Idaho Law Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237439392
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Boise, ID, USA
Phone
2083344500
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,789,164
Expenses
$1,340,953
Assets
$4,479,125
Liabilities
$743,289

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sunrise A Ayers (President)
  • Kimberlee S Bratcher (Vice President)
  • Lynnette M Davis (Vice President)
  • Fonda Jovick (Immediate Past President)
  • Kari Campos Immediate (Past President (left 06/2024))
  • Diane K Minnich (Executive Director (left 12/2024))

Highest reported compensation

  • Diane K Minnich (Executive Director (left 12/2024)): $42,573 total reported compensation
  • Maureen Braley (Executive Director (from 11/2024)): $2,184 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 Idaho Law Foundation maintains a continuing legal education program and administers grants to 1) educate the public, 2) provide legal services to the state's indigent, 3) develop programs to improve the administration of justice and coordinates the Idaho volunteer lawyers program.

What it reported doing in 2024

Through the IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts) program, the Idaho Law Foundation works with members of the Idaho State Bar and the Idaho banking community to allow attorneys to place client funds which are nominal in amount or held for a short period of time into pooled interest-bearing accounts. Interest earned is remitted to the Idaho Law Foundation, which distributes these funds through the IOLTA grant process to programs that meet our funding requirements, including programs that: provide legal aid to the poor; support law related education programs for the public; offer scholarships and student loans; and improve the administration of justice.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 71% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.9%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $62.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.4%; rating input score 99; 49th 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; 63rd 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: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.1%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.34; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.9% of revenue deployed · 83% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $43K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.