National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
815269212
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5107466111
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Crime Prevention

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,531,527
Expenses
$12,284,615
Assets
$19,937,919
Liabilities
$3,487,068

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID MUHAMMAD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • GORDON BARANCO (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID MUHAMMAD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $241,346 total reported compensation
  • DIANA DAHL (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS): $203,453 total reported compensation
  • MIKAELA RABINOWITZ (DIRECTOR OF DATA AND RESEARCH): $181,420 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 national institute for criminal justice reform (nicjr) is a non-profit organization providing technical assistance, consulting, research, and organizational development in the fields of juvenile and criminal justice, youth development, and violence prevention. Nicjr provides consultation, program development technical assistance, and training to an arrayof organizations; including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and philanthropic foundations.

What it reported doing in 2024

Novpn - nicjr launched the national offices of violence prevention network (novpn) in february 2021 with 21 member agencies. As of june 30, 2025, membership had grown to include 78 local and state-level agencies. The novpn strives to increase the expertise and effectiveness of local and state offices of violence prevention and other similar agencies by growing a national learning community that employs innovative and evidence-informed strategies to reduce violence in geographically and culturally relevant ways. During fy25, nicjr provided generalized training and technical assistance to eight novpn member jurisdictions and specialized training and technical assistance to seven novpn member jurisdictions, with support grounded in the specific needs and priorities of each site. We also hosted the third annual novpn convening, which took place in los angeles from september 17-19, 2024. It brought together more than 130 attendees from 45 jurisdictions. Attendees participated in site visits to city of los angeles gang reduction and youth development and la build; engaged in panel discussions and learning sessions; and enjoyed a network mixer.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.1%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 77.8%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $67.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 20.9%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.62; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 45% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 38.7% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 40.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.1% of revenue deployed · 77.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $9.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $241K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $307K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 28 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 21 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.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.