Living with Conviction

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
920979547
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063073028
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy

Reported finances

Revenue
$573,584
Expenses
$537,164
Assets
$80,899
Liabilities
$26,504

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Deborah Espinosa (Executive Director)
  • Keshena Williams (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Deborah Espinosa (Executive Director): $41,667 total reported compensation
  • Keshena Williams (President): $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

Living with Convictions mission is to secure economic and racial justice with and by marginalized communities, especially formerly incarcerated individuals, through community-driven research, storytelling, and legal empowerment strategies.

What it reported doing in 2024

Legal Empowerment / Constitutional Relief: In its second year serving individuals impacted by the Washington State Supreme Courts State v. Blake decision, Living with Convictions formerly incarcerated navigators helped 329 people discover their eligibility for State v. Blake relief, and if applicable, understand and exercise their rights to constitutional relief. This work was undertaken in 26 of 39 counties. Living with Conviction also partnered with system actors and civil legal aid organizations to hold the inaugural Blake Day one superior court. A key cross-cutting activity of Living with Convictions Legal Empowerment Program is creating plain language legal education materials, including infographics and videos, shared via its partners and social media channels, among other content.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 93.7%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $146.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.3%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 127.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.8% of revenue deployed · 93.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $504K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.