Justice Climate Fund Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 931360335
IRS 990 coverage: 2024–2024
Forms available: Form 990 2024, Form 990-PF 2023
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Phone: 2029873770
Rating: 60
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $7,971,950
Expenses: $9,106,814
Assets: $966,544,921
Liabilities: $967,882,057

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

AMIR KIRKWOOD (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

CHANCE CRAIG (LAUNCH TEAM (THRU 2/28/2025)): $256,684 total reported compensation
AMIR KIRKWOOD (CEO): $225,370 total reported compensation
ESSIE CARVER (CHIEF COMPLIANCE & REPORTING OFFICER): $71,652 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 combat the climate crisis by mobilizing financing for greenhouse gas and air pollution reducing projects and activities in communities across the united states.

What it reported doing in 2024

Technical assistance: to accelerate the capacity of community lenders to originate and deploy climate and clean energy financing, jcf (i) launched a flagship technical-assistance initiative in partnership with green bank 50, a national network of u.s.-based green banks; (ii) convened two sessions for more than 40 community lenders and funders to identify and develop solutions for closing clean energy financing gaps, culminating in a white paper titled "bridging institutional capital and community climate investments" that serves as a resource for the broader field; and (iii) sponsored its first community-lender webinar, drawing more than 70 participants from across the country to explore climate and clean energy funding solutions and technical capacity programs.

Operating model

Revenue model: Grant-funded. 89% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model: Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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 - 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: 35
Transparency & Controls: 83
Accountability: 95
Sustainability: 40
Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 37.6%; rating input score 38
Program expense ratio: 32.3%; rating input score 32
Fundraising efficiency: $7.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: -14.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 106.13; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 1; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 6.6%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: Limited
Revenue growth: Limited
Asset growth: Limited

Details

Where the money goes: 37.6% of revenue deployed · 32.3% of spending went to programs
Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.9M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $257K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.4M reported
Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: 3 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.

Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 38/100.
Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 32/100.
High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.