Minnesota Justice Foundation

What it reported doing in 2024

Major services and activities: 1)law school public service program 2)summer fellowship program 3)private attorney student service (pass) 4)student chapters at the mitchell hamline school of law, university of Minnesota law school, and university of st. Thomas school of law 1) law school public service program the law school public service program (lspsp) arose out of a collaboration between the three law schools, the Minnesota state bar association and mjf. This is a unique example of a multi-law school collaboration for community engagement. Operating continuously since 1999, lspsp encourages law students to perform at least 50 hours of law-related volunteer service during their law school careers. This is sometimes referred to as the "50 hour challenge" by law students. It references rule 6.1 of the Minnesota rules of professional conduct which states that lawyers have an ethical obligation to perform pro bono work and/or provide financial support to civil legal aid programs. Students who complete at least 50 hours of volunteer service during their time in law school receive recognition from their law school and mjf. This recognition complements other awards that students are eligible to receive for their academic and extracurricular accomplishments. The law school public service program was designed to create efficiencies for our civil legal aid partner agencies by situating mjf as a central point of contact for outreach regarding law student volunteers from the three Minnesota law schools. From our offices at each of the three Minnesota law schools, mjf staff maintain connections across the legal services community in order to understand, meet, and sometimes anticipate the needs of our partner organizations. The mjf staff attorneys divide a list of statewide legal services providers. Staff attorneys contact these providers at least three-four times a year to discuss fall, spring and summer semester volunteer opportunities and winter and spring break opportunities. Staff attorneys help their contacts think creatively about ways to best engage and supervise law student volunteers, help draft job descriptions, post these on our website and then recruit students. Mjf then places law student volunteers at legal aid programs and other public interest law offices to serve minnesotans with limited means based on the students' interests and availability. Students volunteer throughout the year in a flexible manner that suits their schedules. Some volunteer positions are for one-day engagements at clinics; others are project-based, such as completing a research project for a case; and some are 4-10 hours/week for a semester. Utilizing volunteer law clerks allows the paid staff at our partner agencies to serve more clients and to devote more of their time to complex issues. Mjf works to make our offerings complementary to other resources available to the students through the law schools. Mjf is a popular source of experiential opportunities, especially for first year law students who aren't able to access curricular experiential opportunities such as clinics during their 1l year. Through volunteering with mjf, law students have a chance to explore their interests and consider which experiential courses to prioritize in later semesters. Mjf also works with upper-level students who participate in experiential learning coursework to allow them to record volunteer hours after they have completed the hours they need for course credit. This allows students to continue to build relationships and skills at their site, and is advantageous to their hosts from an efficiency standpoint because the students have already been onboarded. Mjf staff attorneys have exploratory conversations with prospective volunteers to discuss their career interests and professional development goals as part of helping the student identify which volunteer opportunities would be a good fit for them. Sometimes these conversations lead to ongoing informal mentorship rel

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 80.3%; rating input score 80
• Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
• Fundraising efficiency: $26.31 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th 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: 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • 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: -0.4%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 23.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings