Fashion Law Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273839336
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2126367697
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Graduate, Professional Schools (Separate Entities)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$143,791
Expenses
$132,621
Assets
$93,865
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Susan Scafidi (President and director)

People named in this filing

  • Susan Scafidi (President and director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The Fashion Law Institute is the world's first academic center dedicated to the legal issues arising throughout the life of a garment. The Institute carries out its purposes as an educational organization by advancing the field of fashion law through formal instruction, experiential education, and scholarly research.

What it reported doing in 2024

Teaching and research in fashion law remained central to the Institute's mission. The foundational course continued to be the original Fashion Law course, which defined the field and was created and taught by the Institute's founder, Professor Susan Scafidi. Other courses included Fashion and International Trade, covering cutting-edge issues in customs and other matters affecting the global supply chain; Fashion and Commercial Real Estate Law, covering the legal framework for leasing, owning, and managing real property in the fashion economy; Fashion Law and Social Justice, examining the role of fashion in constructive social change; the Fashion Law and Finance course, exploring the role of law and lawyers in developing a global fashion brand; Fashion Ethics, Sustainability and Development, exploring the intersection of fashion law and social values, including such topics as green fashion, fair trade and fashion-related social enterprise; Fashion Licensing, examining the law and business of fashion licensing, the anatomy of a license agreement, and current trends in the industry in the US and worldwide; Cosmetics Regulation, examining legal and ethical issues pertaining to cosmetics and personal care products; Fashion Law Drafting and the Fashion Law Practicum, providing practical experience with legal aspects of the fashion industry; Fashion Retail Law, examining the legal framework for the shopping environment, including retail stores, websites, and privacy and security issues raised by new technology; and the Capstone course for graduating students in the Fordham School of Law Master's degree programs in Fashion Law.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 95.4%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 7.8%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.7% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -12.8% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88% of revenue deployed · 95.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 1 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $126K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.