Nashville Bar Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
621097270
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2013
Location
Nashville, TN, USA
Phone
6152429272
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$205,031
Expenses
$122,982
Assets
$703,500
Liabilities
$18,957

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ERIN PALMER POLLY (PRESIDENT)
  • LAURA SMITH (PRESIDENT-EL)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEANNE HEATON (EXECUTIVE DI): $72,516 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 nashville bar foundation advances justice through targeted non-profit financial support, civic-minded education, and the development and celebration of a respected legal community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Nashville bar foundation leadership forum - the leadership forum will provide a select group of attorneys a unique setting to develop leadership skills through monthly workshops and activities focusing on local legal and community issues. The local leadership program for lawyers offers an innovative opportunity to learn, collaborate, network and serve the local community and the legal profession. The leadership forum is designed for lawyers with three to eight years of experience and the size of the class will be limited to twenty-five lawyers who practice in davidson county. The class will be selected from those who apply, the leadership forum will encourage diversity in the practice of law and help build relationships among attorneys with diverse backgrounds and practices.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 68% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.7%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 89.1%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 67.6%; rating input score 68; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • 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: NotApplicable
    • 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: 40%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.72; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.7% of revenue deployed · 89.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $110K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 26 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.