Administer Justice
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 453450789
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Elgin, IL, USA
- Phone
- 8558184554
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,285,173
- Expenses
- $1,461,550
- Assets
- $1,863,189
- Liabilities
- $74,323
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Bruce Strom (CEO)
- James Charlton (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Bruce Strom (CEO): $123,317 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Empowering vulnerable neighbors with the help of a lawyer and the hope of Gods love. Through neighborhood-based Gospel Justice Centers we free people from the fear of confusing legal circumstances to provide a customized plan for clarity, confidence and direction.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025 we concluded our Open the Gates campaign and exceeded our goal to raise 7MM over 5 years. We also marked 25 years of ministry through a February community concert and an October fundraising gala. By year-end we had 122 Gospel Justice Centers at some stage of opening or operating, with active operations in 19 states 20 of these Centers were new in 2025. We saw a 20 increase in volunteer attorneys serving 332 and an overall 8 increase in professional services donated by all volunteers 3,825,777. During the year, 1,283 trained volunteers served 3,411 client appointments, providing legal guidance and holistic support to community members in need. Client feedback remained strong 94 of clients reported being highly satisfied with the legal help received, and 95 reported experiencing a deeper sense of Gods love.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.5%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 63.8%; rating input score 64
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -13.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.27; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.4%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.5% of revenue deployed · 63.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $933K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $123K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.