Have Justice-will Travel Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030358613
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Vershire, VT, USA
Phone
8026857809
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Camps

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$411,672
Expenses
$378,772
Assets
$369,250
Liabilities
$32,587

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Laura Savall (Attorney): $78,000 total reported compensation
  • Wynona Ward (Attorney): $70,200 total reported compensation
  • Elyse Kolacy (Paralegal): $50,020 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of Have Justice Will Travel, Inc. (HJWT) is to stop the generational cycle of abuse in rural American families, including adults and children, by bridging the legal, geographical, cultural, psychological, and economic gaps that exist for victims of family violence by providing free legal and social services, in-home consultations, and transportation to victims and survivors of abuse. The best measure of HJWT's success is that 90% of the women served do not go onto or return to other abusive relationships.

What it reported doing in 2024

The HJWT model is a holistic, mobil, multi-service model that assists victimis of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by providing them with free legal representation, safety planing and supportive social services. A continum of in-office and on-the-road services offered by HJWT for victims that allow them to understand the roots of the abuse for themselves and their chilldren. HJWT provides free legal representation for protective order hearings and all family law matters, probate and other civil matters. Transportation to and from court hearings and in-home consultations are provided as are other social services. 1095 calls for legal representation were received by all HJWT offices from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Out of the 953 calls 229 were LEAP clients and many more were full representation clients. LEAP offers legal advice and direction thought the development of the client's cases. LEAP meets the needs of many disadvantaged Vermonters to whom HJWT cannot provide full representation because of limited number of attorneys HJWT is able to employ under current funding. Legal and social services are provided with matters such as relief from abuse, divorce, child support, visitation, and guardianship. Both telephone and in-person assistance is provided under the Legal Empowerment Assistance Program (LEAP). In addition to 1 attorney, 1 legal intern, and 1 administrative assistant who are paid employees, HJWT has law student interns volunteer each year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 63% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $44.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • 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%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.97; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 67.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.4% of revenue deployed · 83% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $314K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 10 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.