Circle Up Restorative Justice Arts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
991296105
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-PF 2023
Location
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Phone
6462073996
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$407,794
Expenses
$348,046
Assets
$122,324
Liabilities
$9,636

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARTIN URBACH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARTIN URBACH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $51,667 total reported compensation
  • JANIA WITHERSPOON (SECRETARY): $18,013 total reported compensation
  • AMBER COLON (DIRECOTR OF YOUTH EXPERIENCES BOARD MEMBER): $16,259 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The circle keepers is a brooklyn-based non-profit organization. We dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by training youth organizers as restorative justice practitioners, participatory action researchers and socially conscious activists. By centering the lived experiences of youth leaders, we promote peacemaking through cultural and educational community organizing that heal the harms of racial segregation in schools.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization administers multiple fellowship, youth leadership, and community engagement programs that provide stipends to individuals in furtherance of its peace, justice, and youth development mission. These programs include: the circle keepers fellowship, which supports youth trained in restorative justice practices; sounds of justice and joy, a program integrating arts and advocacy; the peace & justice youth conference, which convenes youth around themes of equity and social change; workshops providing community education and skill-building; the whose voice? Our voice ypar (youth participatory action research) fellowship, which trains youth in community-based research and advocacy; the dignity in schools youth leadership fellowship, supporting student leaders advancing educational justice; the sunset park trie coalition 2025, a community coalition initiative; sun seeker mwke, a program supporting youth wellness and community engagement; dignity in schools student organizing, which supports youth in building power within their schools and communities; and the district 39 peer mediators fellowship, which trains student peer mediators in conflict resolution and restorative practices. Stipends provided through these programs support participants in their leadership development and community engagement activities in furtherance of the organization's exempt purposes.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 71% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.2%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 93.9%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 87.5%; rating input score 87; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.7%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.2%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 103.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 76.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.2% of revenue deployed · 93.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $327K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $52K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.