North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262466688
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
Phone
9198901090
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Interest Law

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,772,002
Expenses
$1,579,372
Assets
$1,221,057
Liabilities
$239,369

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Jennifer M Lechner (Executive Dir.): $132,119 total reported compensation
  • Ahn LyJordan (Director): $114,105 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

In collaboration with the legal community, NCEAJF empowers North Carolinians to navigate the civil justice system.

What it reported doing in 2025

The NC Pro Bono Resource Center is the statewide pro bono clearinghouse that assists lawyers in fulfilling their professional responsibility to provide pro bono legal services. PBRC focuses on projects to address unmet legal needs, creating clinics and other models of service delivery to provide needed legal services such as the Drivers License Restoration Project, housing stability, disaster relief, expunctions, and emergent needs. More than 221 legal professionals are registered on Pro Bono Go, which highlighted 71 pro bono opportunities benefitting North Carolinians. The Drivers License Restoration Project served 2,789 advice letter clients and an additional 9,200 people through mass relief.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 65% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.7%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th 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: Limited
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.6%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.7% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $132K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.