International Municipal Lawyers Association Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530214280
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Rockville, MD, USA
Phone
2024665424
Rating
59
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,334,195
Expenses
$2,186,249
Assets
$2,868,933
Liabilities
$1,562,387

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jeffrey Dana (President-Elect)
  • Rose Humway-Warmuth (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Amanda Karras (Executive Dir.): $183,947 total reported compensation
  • Jennifer Ruhe (Dep. Exc. Director): $130,761 total reported compensation
  • Erich Eiselt (Deputy GC): $126,607 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To serve local government lawyers and to advance the interests of local government law locally, nationally, and internationally.

What it reported doing in 2024

Membership services:1. Publication: the municipal lawyer magazine, imla's bi-monthly magazine, the municipal lawyer, is the organization's widely circulated printed publication. The magazine provides members with both in-depth articles as well as broad based information about current and emerging issues, plus practical insights on issues that local government attorneys deal with on a daily basis. 2. Imla's e-mail newsletter. The imla e-mail newsletter is the perfect complement to the municipal lawyer. Published on a bi-weekly basis, the newsletter keeps local government attorneys up-to-date on the most recent developments in case law and legal trends around the country. 3. Model documents ccdi documents - construction contracts documents initiative (ccdi) available to imla members who have a license to use the aia documents. This web-based platform is the result of a partnership between the aia and the imla.model employment agreement.4. Amicus assistance - legal advocacy program. With respect to appellate litigation, imla is the primary amicus curiae for local governments in federal and state courts in cases of national and regional importance. Imla regularly files briefs, or signs onto coalition briefs, before the united states supreme court and other appellate courts. 5. Networking opportunities - participation in imla's specialized sections and departments and working groups provides exceptional opportunities for networking with colleagues who share a mutual interest in a specific area of local government law. 6. Imla website - imla's website is designed to be the first place members turn to when looking to satisfy their local government resource needs. Recent legal news, a blog, event information, and more are accessible at www.imla.org. For access to cutting-edge papers, magazine articles, and more members are able to access "myimla" which is a members only restricted access site.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 84% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 30
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34%; rating input score 34
  • Program expense ratio: 34.3%; rating input score 34
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 95.8%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.3%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.54; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 34% of revenue deployed · 34.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 24 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 13 filed program accomplishments · $750K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $184K · 27 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.