Charitable Allies Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
351615544
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone
4632290229
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,181,257
Expenses
$2,145,162
Assets
$1,714,423
Liabilities
$1,579,223

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ZACHARY KESTER (DIRECTOR, CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ZACHARY KESTER (DIRECTOR, CEO): $322,193 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT MILLER (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $166,055 total reported compensation
  • OLIVIA CLOER (SECRETARY): $110,253 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 provide at greatly reduced rates(low bono) or for free (pro bono) excellent legal and legal education services to nonprofit organizations and their stakeholders (i.e. Founders directors, members and donors) through our charitable legal aid and educational

What it reported doing in 2024

Providing legal aid transactional and governance representation. Many organizations are unable to afford excellent, experienced nonprofit legal services. Charitable allies provides these services at greatly reduced (low bono) rates generally, and for free (pro bono) when the case/matter is in specific furtherance of the public interest and related to the core issues of governance, tax exemption and board liability. Our clients range the nonprofit spectrum, from the entities working in the human services space to churches, from community centers to social service agencies and from membership organizations to social welfare entities, among many others. We assist with a wide variety of legal needs such as accreditation audits, tax exemption and governance, real estate transactions, employment law, contract analysis, and nearly any other common legal issue for which a nonprofit organization would require transactional and governance legal representation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 82% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 46
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 51.9%; rating input score 52
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.7%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.8; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.92; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 37.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51% of revenue deployed · 51.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $322K · 10 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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 51/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 52/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.