Detroit Bar Association Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
381870033
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2014
Location
Detroit, MI, USA
Phone
3139616120
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$170,085
Expenses
$155,625
Assets
$554,776
Liabilities
$9,200

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tracey Cooley (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tracey Cooley (Executive Director): $94,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The foundation facilitates programs that improve the quality of life and that help meet the needs of the underserved community in the Detroit Metropolitan area, and providing educational opportunities for the community and legal profession through partnerships with members of the legal community and related professions.

What it reported doing in 2025

Events and programs to provide educational opportunities for the legal profession and the general public's awareness of the opportunities in the legal profession.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.9%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th 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: 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: 8.5%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.56; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.9% of revenue deployed · 82.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $128K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 28 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 18 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.