Equal Justice Works

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521469738
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2024663686
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$23,406,772
Expenses
$23,986,551
Assets
$40,999,909
Liabilities
$9,333,052

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

35 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • VERNA WILLIAMS (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • VERNA WILLIAMS (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $424,978 total reported compensation
  • TIMOTHY S WIERZBICKI (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $361,097 total reported compensation
  • MIA SUSSMAN SR VP (SENIOR VP OF NETWORK ENGAGEMENT): $262,105 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Equal justice works creates opportunities for lawyers to transform their passion for equal justice into a lifelong commitment to public service.

What it reported doing in 2024

Law school engagement and advocacy: equal justice works also offers programs to increase the number of law students and lawyers dedicating all or part of their careers to public service by engaging and collaborating with law schools, students, and attorneys. Equal justice works maintains a robust law school membership, which includes over 90% of aba-accredited law schools, and helps ensure those members know of and participate in the programs offered by equal justice works, including fellowships described above as well as the following programming for law students. The organization provides short-term summer student fellowships programs. The rural summer legal corps (rslc) program is a joint partnership of the legal services corporation (lsc) and equal justice works. The rslc program connects public interest law students with civil legal aid organizations to address pressing legal issues facing rural communities. In the summer of 2025, 50 student fellows participated in the program from 36 law schools. During their summer, rslc student fellows collectively contributed more than 15,000 hours to help rural communities, with 5,560 hours spent on direct legal services. These student fellows also participated in 218 outreach events, created or expanded more than 153 collaborations with community partners, and provided legal information to more than 2,339 individuals. The disaster resilience program hosted 5 students alongside post-graduate fellows this summer, and those students helped with legal research, community outreach, and advocacy to further the goals of those fellowship projects.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 73% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.9%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 72.1%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 39th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.71; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.9% of revenue deployed · 72.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $17.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $425K · 35 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.6M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 207 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 201 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.