James Wilson Institute
Legal name: James Wilson Institute for Natural Rights and the American Founding
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 411970028
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012, Form 990-N 2011
- Location
- Alexandria, VA, US
- Phone
- 202-760-3220
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $595,403
- Expenses
- $997,144
- Assets
- $1,112,799
- Liabilities
- $72,685
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DOUGLAS C NEFF (CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- GARRETT SNEDEKER (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $133,560 total reported compensation
- GERARD BRADLEY (TRUSTEE (NON-VOTING)): $112,500 total reported compensation
- HADLEY ARKES (TRUSTEE (NON-VOTING)): $75,000 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 restore the American Founders’ understanding of the moral grounds of our rights by bringing back a commonsense foundation to the study of law to inspire a new generation to discover anew our Nation’s absolute truths.
What it reported doing in 2024
The james wilson institute hosted a variety of educational programs and speaking symposiums in 2024 for audiences of lawyers, judges, scholars, and interested citizens. The james wilson fellowship is one of the core programs of the institute, in which a group of lawyers is selected from a selective application process to spend a week in Washington, dc learning the connection between philosophy and law. Another core program is the james wilson senior seminar, a semi-annual gathering of judges, scholars and lawyers who wish to maintain a firm grasp on the moral foundations of american jurisprudence. Finally, the institute hosted 22 other programs throughout the year on subjects connected to american jurisprudence and the restoration of a more morally coherent civic culture.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 70.8%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -67.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.12; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 39.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 70.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $706K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $134K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 9 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.