Law Reform Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
332494196
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
McLean, VA, USA
Phone
7035392554
Rating
60
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,215,924
Expenses
$186,354
Assets
$1,041,156
Liabilities
$11,586

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Timothy Schnabel (President)

People named in this filing

  • Timothy Schnabel (President)
  • Diane Boyer-Vine (Secretary)
  • Cory Skolnick (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The Law Reform Institute identifies overlooked topics on which innovative legal reform could fix concrete problems. When legislation is needed to address a problem, the Law Reform Institute aims to foster dialogue among stakeholdersfocused on specific textto develop a consensus-based legislative approach that would improve the status quo for everyone.

What it reported doing in 2024

During its initial fiscal year, the Law Reform Institute focused on artificial intelligence law and policy, as the speed of AI development and diffusion makes adapting existing legal frameworks particularly challenging. LRI researched and drafted a series of papers and legislative proposals on topics related to AI and federal law, such as the impact of U.S. export controls on efforts to conduct evaluations of frontier AI models and the need for an antitrust safe harbor to facilitate collaboration among frontier AI labs. LRI conducted outreach to key stakeholders to elicit feedback on its drafts and revised the drafts accordingly.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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 - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 35
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 89
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 13.1%; rating input score 13
  • Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 84.7%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.59; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

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

Details

  • Where the money goes: 13.1% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $154K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.