Counsel for Justice

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953998111
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
2138966434
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,634,701
Expenses
$2,635,991
Assets
$3,771,251
Liabilities
$774,682

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

Leadership & pay

35 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Diane Kimberlin (President)
  • Wes Kennedy (President-Elect)
  • Shawn Ledingham (Vice President)
  • Susan Koehler Sullivan (Vice President)
  • Lana Manganiello (Past President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Diane Trunk (Executive Dir.): $197,793 total reported compensation
  • Silvia Martinez (Directing Attorney): $128,167 total reported compensation
  • Alexandra Hong (Supervising Attor): $112,830 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

CFJ promotes access to justice for underserved communities seeking to assert their legal rights. Our pro bono-based projects bridge the gap for underserved communities seeking safety, stability, and justice. CFJ engages volunteer attorneys to provide legal services, empowering people with knowledge and support to effectively navigate legal challenges.

What it reported doing in 2025

Immigration Legal Assistance Project - Counsel for Justice provided free immigration legal services in approximately 4,000 cases in 2025, including self-help services, limited-scope assistance, and attorney representation. The project assisted low-income immigrants in Los Angeles County with immigration applications, legal information, document preparation, and representation in appropriate cases. These services helped clients pursue lawful status, work authorization, family stability, and protection from harm. Outcomes included lawful permanent resident approvals, work authorizations, green card renewals, replacement citizenship documents, advance parole applications, and FOIA requests.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 67% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.3%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 59.4%; rating input score 59
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.1%; rating input score 98; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -0%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.43; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.3% of revenue deployed · 59.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $198K · 35 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $168K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.