Civil Liberties Defense Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
582670951
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Eugene, OR, USA
Phone
5416879180
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Rights

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,356,425
Expenses
$882,985
Assets
$1,044,437
Liabilities
$33,951

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Michael Moss (President)
  • Kim Marks (Co-President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lauren Regan (Co-Director): $109,439 total reported compensation
  • Marianne Dugan (Co-Director): $104,500 total reported compensation
  • Michael Moss (President): $7,990 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFENSE CENTER (CLDC) educates the general public about their rights and privileges under the US Constitution and provides free legal support to climate and social justice activists.

What it reported doing in 2025

CLDC's "Dissent and Democracy" program educates and empowers activists, organizations, funders and attorney's with legal information and best practices for resiliently engaging in political change work, including by offering organizational memberships to CLDC for orgs without attorney's or legal support. Program priorities included a wide menu of online and in-person "Know your rights and risks" trainings, digital security, and movement lawyer trainings and mentorship for law students, lawyers and legal workers. Our goal is to provide accessibility and language translation options when requested and/or available. We partner with other NGO's around the country, including in several national coalitions to defend vibrant civic space and support movements intent on building a healthier planet for all.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 49
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 39.6%; rating input score 40
  • Program expense ratio: 60.5%; rating input score 61
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 34.9%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 39.6% of revenue deployed · 60.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $534K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $109K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.