Americans for Effective Law Enforcement Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
366140171
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Skokie, IL, USA
Phone
8007632802
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$542,747
Expenses
$371,699
Assets
$826,353
Liabilities
$92,761

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHET EPPERSON (PRESIDENT AND INTERIM EXEC. DIRECTOR)
  • HELEN FINKEL (STAFF VICE PRESIDENT AND BUSINESS MANAGER)

Highest reported compensation

  • HELEN FINKEL (STAFF VICE PRESIDENT AND BUSINESS MANAGER): $77,628 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Americans for effective law enforcement, inc. Is a research driven educational organization that produces and disseminates legal information through traditional seminars, via electronic media and direct contact.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization maintains a law enforcement legal center to assist law enforcement agencies that have been sued, to operate a national legal research center to assist in defense of such suits, and to provide publications dealing with the incidence of and defense of such suits. It also files amicus curiae briefs in the u.s. Supreme court and other major courts in support of the law enforcement issues, as well as providing public information services on criminal justice issues.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and assets have declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 90.2%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th 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: Fail
    • 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: 31.5%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.9%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.1% of revenue deployed · 90.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $335K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.