Civil Survival Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814267776
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,584,787
Expenses
$1,374,237
Assets
$1,715,345
Liabilities
$149,522

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Derek Boyd (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sugam Soni: $69,657 total reported compensation
  • Teresa Groves: $69,542 total reported compensation
  • Corey Guilmette (Director): $67,196 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Civil Survival organizes system-impacted people, provides legal representation and reentry support, and advocates for policy reform to restore opportunity to communities harmed by the criminal legal system in Washington State.

What it reported doing in 2024

During the first half of 2025, Civil Survival advanced key legislative and community advocacy initiatives to expand opportunity and equity for people impacted by the criminal legal system. A major highlight was the passage of HB 1747, Civil Survivals bill expanding Fair Chance employment protections. The new law requires employers to delay criminal record inquiries until after a conditional offer and provide a legitimate business reason if an applicant is denied based on a conviction. In February, Civil Survival hosted Community Empowerment Week, bringing together over 160 participants and 15 partner organizations for legislative training, storytelling workshops, and more than 60 legislative meetings. Civil Survival continued its Unlocking Legislative Advocacy (ULA) program, graduating a new cohort of advocates prepared to lead reentry and policy change efforts in their communities and began planning for the 2025 cohort.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 78% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 81.5%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $56.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.3%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.25; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.6%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31.9% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71% of revenue deployed · 81.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $70K · 12 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.