Justice Now

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
421559699
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2015
Forms available
Form 990 2015
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5108397645
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Women's Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$691,026
Expenses
$585,326
Assets
$551,342
Liabilities
$20,963

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sam Page (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Misty Beruberojo (Co-Director): $45,278 total reported compensation
  • Nora Wilson (Co-Director): $43,929 total reported compensation
  • Hannah McFaull (Co-Director): $30,819 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Justice Now (the Organization) is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, which was established in April 2002. Its mission is to challenge gendered violence and imprisonment. The Organization works with people in women's prisons to challenge human rights abuses in women's prisons and imprisonment more broadly through a combination of direct services, public education, and human rights strategies. Additionally, the Organization is based on a clinical training organizational structure: interns are trained and supervised by staff to do the bulk of the programmatic work of the organization in partnership with the Organization's constituency in prison.

What it reported doing in 2015

TGI Justice Project The Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project's (TGIJP) mission is to challenge and end human and civil rights abuses committed against transgender, gender variant, and intersex (TGI) people in CA prisons and beyond. Recognizing that poverty borne from profound and pervasive discrimination and marginalization of TGI people is a major underlying cause of why TGI people end up in prison. TGIJP addresses human and civil rights abuses against TGI prisoners through strategies that effect systemic change. TGIJP operates at the intersections of race, gender, sex, class, sexual orientation, intersex condition, and dis/ability, among others, and prioritizes and centralizes the wisdom and leadership of TGI currently and formerly imprisoned people, especially trans women of color.In 2015, we continued to fortify our touchstone programming: hosting two member-leader Sistahs Doin It For Ourselves retreats; publishing our biannual newsletter; hosting regular programming for trans and gender nonconforming people in the San Francisco County jail, and continuing our statewide visitation program. New victories included: launching the Melenie Eleneke Grassroots Re-Entry program; continuing centering black trans leadership in the #BlackLivesMatter movement by attending the Movement for Black Lives convening in Cleveland and being part of the Combahee Alliance Direct Action Training Cohort; leading interventions against the violence that targets black trans people specifically black trans women by launching #BlackTransLiberationTuesday and conducting a Trans March of resilience direct action in response to a call from our sister org, BreakOut, in New Orleans; collaborating with California Coalition for Women Prisoners to conduct a health fair at Chowchilla; fighting to provide relief to trans and gender non conforming people inside SF county jails through strong participation in the campaign to close the SF county jail and working with Transgender Law Center on a policy to provide self determination in housing while inside; and supported the transition of Ms. Janetta Johnson to Executive Director and of Miss Major to Executive Director Emeritus.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.2%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15.3%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.94; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.5%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

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

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.2% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $485K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.