Accountable Justice Action Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823247136
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Albany, NY, USA
Phone
8028232911
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,481,549
Expenses
$5,997,970
Assets
$22,453,578
Liabilities
$214,915

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHLOE COCKBURN (CEO/PRESIDENT/SECRETARY)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHLOE COCKBURN (CEO/PRESIDENT/SECRETARY): $584,389 total reported compensation
  • ZACHARY CARPENTER (SENIOR ADVISOR): $266,732 total reported compensation
  • JASSON PEREZ (PROGRAM LEAD): $200,602 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The corporation supports and promotes criminal justice reform via public education, advocacy, donor advising and grant making. Our core programmatic areas are grants and donor advising.

What it reported doing in 2024

Grants: grants were provided to 10 organizations that are focused on reforming the criminal legal system and shrinking the number of people who are incarcerated in the united states. Historically, grants have supported community organizing, leadership development, direct advocacy, journalism, narrative change, and policy reform. We seek to fund innovative leaders and organizations deploying dynamic strategies to reduce incarceration and to forge solutions and alternatives to incarceration that are effective in keeping communities safe. In fy25, grants were provided to 10 organizations for a total of roughly $2.8 million. We provide holistic support to grantees and their peer movement leaders which can include fundraising, operational, partnership building, and strategic planning assistance. (schedule o)in fy25, we convened 450 leaders for a four-day convening with workshops and trainings on organizing, strategy, communications, interpersonal healing, and management. We engaged with independent consulting firms to provide workshops on leadership, cybersecurity, and mental health, at no cost to grantees.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 44% for direct work, and 56% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.8%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2,230.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 42.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.74; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 29.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.8% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $584K · 8 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $171K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 10 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.