Arkansas Bar Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
710331442
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Official website data refreshed
Oct 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone
(501) 353-1627
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$343,464
Expenses
$267,206
Assets
$6,543,861
Liabilities
$120,983

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANN DIXON PYLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • VICKI S VASSER (PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL CRAWFORD (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANN DIXON PYLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $57,327 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 improve justice for all Arkansans by promoting education, literary, scientific and charitable purposes.

What it reported doing in 2024

Funded special projects to improve the administration of justice, promote the study of law, enhance the judicial process, and promote professionalism among Arkansas attorneys. Projects include funding educational programs for the Arkansas bar association annual meeting; support for Arkansas bar association mock trial competitions for high school students; continuing education of lawyers; and partial funding for a rural practice incubator project, and free legal answers project of Arkansas access to justice foundation. U of a delta initiative constitution day and Arkansas mock trial foundation, inc.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 85.9%; rating input score 86; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • 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: 22.2%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 24.49; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $201K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $57K · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.