Equal Access to Justice

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850437183
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Albuquerque, NM, USA
Phone
5053398096
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking Foundations N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$513,873
Expenses
$407,699
Assets
$457,088
Liabilities
$5,344

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • M KAREN KILGORE (PRESIDENT)
  • CHARLES K PURCELL (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • HEATHER NORFLEET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • HEATHER NORFLEET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $74,900 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To increase access to justice by supporting and expanding free civil legal services for low-income new mexicans. Equal access to justice provides unrestricted, noncompetitive funds to legal aid organizations who provide free civil legal services to indigent new mexicans.

What it reported doing in 2025

Providing resources for New Mexico legal aid (nmla). Nmla provides statewide civil legal services and is the voice, defender and advocate for poor people who are seeking justice in all forums, particularly in the communities in which they live. Nmla is committed to helping poor people in their struggle to access food, shelter, security, and to preserve their unique cultural heritages. Nmla provides direct legal representation and assistance to 15-20,000 people annually in legal matters that impact essential needs: shelter, protection from abuse (physical, mental, and economic), food, income protection, and predatory lending practices. Tens of thousands more receive legal information about their rights and instructions on how to protect themselves.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 91% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.9%; rating input score 99; 51st 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; 64th 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: 20.7%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.12; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $344K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.