Council on Immigrant Relations
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204892858
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2010
- Location
- Raleigh, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9193220360
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Adult, Continuing Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $176,902
- Expenses
- $155,931
- Assets
- $20,971
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- John Faison (Executive Director)
- Katherine Ngaruiya (President)
Highest reported compensation
- John Faison (Executive Director): $28,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
CIR provides low-cost immigration legal services through DOJ-accredited representatives and recognized immigration clinics, assisting immigrant neighbors with consultations, family-based immigration, asylum, removal defense, humanitarian relief, work authorization, and related immigration matters. CIR also educates and engages immigrant communities, policymakers, churches, and the public regarding legal and policy issues affecting immigrants.
What it reported doing in 2025
IR provided low-cost immigration legal services to immigrant individuals and families through DOJ-accredited representatives and trained staff. Services included consultations, family-based immigration filings, asylum and removal defense support, humanitarian immigration relief, work authorization applications, USCIS and EOIR case preparation, client counseling, document review, case communication, and mailing/submission of immigration documents. This program advanced CIR's exempt purpose by helping immigrant community members understand their legal options, pursue available immigration benefits, and navigate complex immigration procedures.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 83% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 81
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.1%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 11.9%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 88.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $156K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $28K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.