Advancing Real Change Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 352518417
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4106852569
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,411,917
- Expenses
- $1,436,424
- Assets
- $618,200
- Liabilities
- $119,296
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Nicole Flowers (Vice President)
- Kristina Leslie (President Emeritus)
- Elizabeth Vartkessian (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Elizabeth Vartkessian (Executive Director): $99,624 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To create a more just world by advancing empathy, dignity, and equity within and beyond the criminal legal system.
What it reported doing in 2024
As life history investigators (often referred to as mitigation specialists) and record collection specialists, we work as members of defense teams at both the trial and post-conviction phases of cases. We engage in multi-generational and multi-disciplinary inquiries into the life histories of our client and their communities through the collection of documents and multiple conversations with our clients, their families and friends, and acquaintances. By doing so, we come to understand the trajectories of our clients' lives, which, in turn, allows the defense team to be better advocates. The information gathered in the course of these investigations is often presented to prosecutors or courts to help them make more just decisions about the fate of our clients as they are often concerned with the circumstances of the individual defendant when deciding how best to proceed in a particular case. Our work also includes teaching fellow practitioners and other stakeholders about the standards of mitigation.We work on cases all around the United States and have experience at the state and federal levels.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 65% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
STRONG - 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: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 74.1%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd 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: -1.7%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 74.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 10/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.