Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
520799246
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2026628600
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,494,672
Expenses
$20,307,251
Assets
$75,808,447
Liabilities
$10,689,347

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

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Damon T Hewitt (President/Executive Director)
  • Courtney Spellacy (Vice President Developmment)

Highest reported compensation

  • Damon T Hewitt (President/Executive Director): $457,001 total reported compensation
  • Vinincia Dorsey Ellington (Dir., People & Culture (Interim COO in 2024)): $276,124 total reported compensation
  • Courtney Spellacy (Vice President Developmment): $273,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Lawyers' Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real.

What it reported doing in 2024

Voting Rights Project: The Voting Rights Project works through coordinated and integrated programs of litigation, voter protection, advocacy, and education to protect the right to vote for communities of color who are most likely to be disenfranchised. The Project's signature voter protection effort is the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, a national membership coalition boasting well over 300 organizational members. The Lawyers' Committee serves as co-convener of the coalition and coordinates infrastructure, training and development of volunteer attorneys for the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline that provides expert assistance to voters nationwide.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 64.2%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 24th 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 13.9%; rating input score 14; 8th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -9.8%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.73; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78% of revenue deployed · 64.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 9 filed program accomplishments · $13M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $457K · 29 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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: Grant itemization coverage scored 14/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.