American Bar Foundation
Overview
Mission
The american bar foundation (abf) seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the abf produces timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the united states and internationally.
What it reported doing in 2024
The research program research work in progress is currently comprised of 33 projects in three broad categories of inquiry: i) learning and practicing law, ii) protecting rights, accessing justice, and iii) making and implementing law. A number of foundation research faculty are recipients of national and international awards for their professional contributions. The foundation's research and its dissemination is designed to further the foundation's overall objective of scholarly preeminence in the study of law, legal institutions, and the legal profession. To this end, research projects are subject to review by an internal research committee, an external group of distinguished and independent scholars, and a research committee of the board of directors. The research projects are then voted on by the full board of directors. Standards for review include the significance of the study and the comportment of its design with the standards of integrity and scholarship.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The program-spending lines do not add up, so the filing cannot show reliably whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 366110271
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2022
- Headquarters
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3129886500
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 93
- Sustainability: 55
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.5%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 64.5%; rating input score 65
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 96%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.5%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.05; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.4%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.5% of revenue deployed · 64.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 24 of 25 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $370K · 32 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Leadership & pay
32 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MARK SUCHMAN (RESEARCHER (STARTING 07/2025)/PRIOR EXEC. DIRECTOR (THRU 07/2025)): $370,204 total reported compensation
- SHARI DIAMOND (RESEARCHER): $263,945 total reported compensation
- ELIZABETH MERTZ (RESEARCHER): $228,350 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.