Just Who I Am

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823110266
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
9514472581
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$200,000
Expenses
$177,334
Assets
$81,062
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Laura D Williams (Founder/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Laura D Williams (Founder/CEO): $47,500 total reported compensation
  • Cassandra Franklin (Board Member): $8,747 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Just Who I Am, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering foster, underserved, and at-risk youth and families through mentorship, education, leadership development, life-skills training, and supportive services. Our mission is to provide safe spaces and meaningful opportunities that help young people discover their identity, overcome barriers, and reach their full potential.

What it reported doing in 2025

Just Who I Am, Inc. provides comprehensive youth and family programming through the New Legacy Youth Center and other community-based initiatives. Programs include after-school support, tutoring, mentorship, social-emotional learning, college and career readiness, financial literacy, workforce and life-skills development, counseling and mental health support, youth leadership opportunities, summer programming, community events, and biweekly food distribution.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 32
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.3%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $344.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.3%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.3% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $137K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.