Lady Freethinker

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474213802
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3109230729
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,222,487
Expenses
$1,561,376
Assets
$2,635,229
Liabilities
$31,045

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NINA JACKEL (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • NINA JACKEL (PRESIDENT): $156,330 total reported compensation
  • BENJAMIN JACKEL (BOARD MEMBER): $5,451 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Nonprofit organization furthering compassion for all species. We create and distribute petitions, news articles, films and other content. We also conduct investigations and aid animal rescue.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education and outreach to fight animal cruelty - lady freethinker published more than 400 articles and petitions to raise awareness and encourage the public to speak out against animal cruelty. These garnered almost 9 million views and over 5.5 million petition signatures to stop animal abuse for food, entertainment, clothing and more, as well as urge law enforcement agents and policymakers to treat animal cruelty with the severity it deserves. Lft's investigations and campaigns, including campaigning to end animal cruelty on social media platforms, stop cruelty in the global dog meat trade, and end abuse of captive wildlife, were featured by bbc, pcmag, the daily mail, and more.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 75% for direct work, and 25% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.9%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 85.6%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 83.5%; rating input score 84; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 29.7%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.69; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.4% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.7% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.9% of revenue deployed · 85.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $156K · 6 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $250K reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 37 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 10 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.