Colorado Defense Lawyers Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 840716703
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Denver, CO, USA
- Phone
- 3032636466
- Rating
- 50
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $667,295
- Expenses
- $720,381
- Assets
- $207,542
- Liabilities
- $78,555
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Robert Donegan (Executive Director)
- Matt Cecil (Immediate Past President)
- Hillary Patterson (Immediate Past President)
- Rob Hinckley (President)
- Stephanie Montague (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Glenna Donegan (Marketing Director): $125,000 total reported compensation
- Robert Donegan (Executive Director): $110,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Provide continuing educational classes and support services in the practice of law
What it reported doing in 2024
Providing continuing education classes and support services in the law field. Professional education classes, conventions, lunches and meetings are held periodically throughout the year
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 65% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 16
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.29; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 32.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -20.4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -21.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $125K · 17 people listed
- Consistency: 12 of 13 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.