Metropolitan Public Defender

Legal name: Metropolitan Public Defender Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
930591637
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Portland, OR, US
Phone
503-225-9100
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$34,929,296
Expenses
$35,177,066
Assets
$29,088,290
Liabilities
$15,236,100

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CARL MACPHERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CARL MACPHERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $235,336 total reported compensation
  • DAWN ANDREWS (PCAD COUNTY DIRECTOR): $227,740 total reported compensation
  • GREGORY BENSON SCHOLL (CAPITAL TEAM DIRECTOR): $212,576 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide holistic, client-centered public defense and civil legal services that address the full range of challenges facing individuals involved in or at risk of involvement in the criminal justice system, partnering with government and community organizations to remove barriers and stabilize families.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization provided criminal and juvenile legal services to indigent defendants in multnomah and Washington counties and capital crime defense services across the state of Oregon. Metropolitan public defender services (mpd) handles thousands of criminal and juvenile cases per year and is recognized nationally for its leadership in the public defense community, its training programs, and the guidance, supervision, and support of its attorneys. With this reputation and role come an abiding interest in criminal legal system issues, and the knowledge and ability to affect change in those systems, both at the county and state levels.continued on schedule o.mpd's community law division provides barrier reduction services to individuals with prior involvement in the criminal, housing, and immigration legal systems through legal representation assisting with reintegration and restoration into the community. These services are available to veterans, non-citizens, and individuals in public housing and poverty reduction programs through various federal, city, and county contracts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 95
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.1%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 94.4%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1,215.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.7%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.83; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.52; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.9% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 95.1% of revenue deployed · 94.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $33.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $235K · 18 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $817K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.