Njpirg
Legal name: New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Citizen Lobby
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 222708332
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 6093948155
- Rating
- 61
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $334,509
- Expenses
- $143,690
- Assets
- $12,933,440
- Liabilities
- $113,134
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ellen Montgomery (President)
- Emily Rusch (Treasurer, Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Ellen Montgomery (President): $90,107 total reported compensation
- Emily Rusch (Treasurer, Vice President): $4,338 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
NJPIRG Citizen Lobby works to protect consumers, promote democracy, and safeguard the environment in New Jersey.
What it reported doing in 2024
Public Education and Outreach Services: Recruiting volunteers, distributing educational literature, conducting surveys and discussing issues with the public, including issues such as addressing pollution from single-use plastic, protecting consumers from unfair price gouging, and speaking up for citizens' right to repair their own devices
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Membership-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 34
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 66
- Sustainability: 82
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 25.1%; rating input score 25
- Program expense ratio: 52.2%; rating input score 52
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 57%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 90.01; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.1% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 25.1% of revenue deployed · 52.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $75K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Related organizations: 29 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 25/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 52/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.