Louisiana Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 721402876
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2007
- Location
- New Orleans, LA, USA
- Phone
- 5045617312
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $568,940
- Expenses
- $524,530
- Assets
- $413,080
- Liabilities
- $11,433
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
23 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ASHLEY HARRISON (PRESIDENT)
- SHARONDA WILLIAMS (VICE PRESIDENT)
- WILLIAM D SHEA (IMM PAST PRESIDENT)
- ADRIENNE WHEELER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- ADRIENNE WHEELER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $140,271 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Louisiana appleseed solves our state's toughest problems at their root cause by advocating for access to justice, opportunity, and education. We believe that our state will be stronger through fair and equitable access to the courts, the economy, and public schools. To accomplish this, we build bridges between vulnerable communities and our extensive network of pro bono professionals to develop meaningful and sustainable solutions that help justice take root.
What it reported doing in 2024
Access to opportunity: updating manual for lawyers providing pro bono services following a disaster; revising laws to east title clearing for low-wealth families, enabling those families to preserve homeownership and build wealth; developing estate planning handbooks and guides to prevent heirs' property; connecting heirs' property owners to legal aid and other legal resources; collaborating with public and nonprofit agencies to target outreach for free legal help; encouraging the adoption of equitable practices related to heirs' property; analyzing state laws on the suspension of drivers' licenses and the resulting economic impact; distributing a report enabling banks and credit unions to reach out to the unbanked and under banked; community education and outreach; partiticating in working group to discuss land use and city ordinances; researching impact of debt buying industry on Louisiana consumers.
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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.2%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 79.3%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.8%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.2% of revenue deployed · 79.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $416K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 23 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.