Civil Grand Jurors Association of California

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330079227
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2025
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
5108167424
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Administration of Justice, Courts

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$251,376
Expenses
$222,408
Assets
$324,375
Liabilities
$1,793

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Gary Cooper (President)
  • Larry Herbst (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Gary Cooper (President)
  • Larry Herbst (Vice President)
  • Barbara Sommer (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To support and educate civil grand jurors in California, promote the integrity of the grand jury system, and advocate for the effective administration of justice.

What it reported doing in 2025

Educational programs, general/other: CGJA's annual 2-day regional and on-site training programs for new grand jurors, foreperson workshops and report writing workshops conducted by all volunteer trainers, has trained over 25,000 jurors since 2000. Grand jurors from 57 of the 58 counties in CA have received training that complies with the mandates of California Penal Code 914. CGJA trained approximately 1,000 jurors in 2025.Educational programs, general/other: As a resource to all those grand jurors and ohers interested in California's unique regular grand jury system, CGJA publishes a bi-monthly newsletter distributed to CGJA membership, judges, grand juries, and court staff. CGJA also maintains a web site.Educational Programs, general/other: CGJA holds an annual conference at locations throughout California. San Luis Obispo was the site of the 2025 Conference. This annual event is another effort to educate CGJA members, the public, seated grand jurors, court personnel and judges on issues relevant to California's grand jury system. This is also an opportunity to coordinate communications between CGJA, local courts, and the juries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 88% 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 - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.7%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.5%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.46; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 74.7% of revenue deployed · 87.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $194K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 16 of 17 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.