Justice Action Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 833991239
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, US
- Phone
- 3233160944
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Civil Rights
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,259,963
- Expenses
- $3,244,085
- Assets
- $5,119,206
- Liabilities
- $256,419
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Karen Tumlin (Executive Dir.): $298,462 total reported compensation
- Veonta Pride (Dir Operations): $195,219 total reported compensation
- Adela Hart (Deputy Director): $190,060 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
JAC uses co-equal litigation and storytelling strategies to address unmet needs and build new frameworks to tangibly improve immigrants’ lives.
What it reported doing in 2025
Communications: Justice Action Center's JAC model depends on placing equal emphasis on storytelling and litigation. We recognize that winning a lawsuit alone will not lead to the systemic change we seek. We strive to build a new framework that uses litigation and narrative work to tangibly improve immigrants' lives. JAC produces original communications and digital content focused on the immigrant experience and perspectives. Our storytelling work is designed to strive to tangibly improve immigrants' lives and is rooted in the notion that transformative change will only occur when dominant narratives about immigration and belonging shift. These shifts are part of a broader ecosystem of work JAC seeks to participate in that ecosystem by using the microphone provided by litigation to center and uplift immigrant stories.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 51
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 64.7%; rating input score 65
- Program expense ratio: 84.6%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $49.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 23.8%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.58; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 35.5%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 29.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 28.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 10 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 64.7% of revenue deployed · 84.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $298K · 11 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $284K reported
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.