Northwest Defenders Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 911392873
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2013
- Forms available
- Form 990 2013
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2067198951
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,973,954
- Expenses
- $3,693,130
- Assets
- $2,793,645
- Liabilities
- $571,062
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Colleen Kinerk (Board President)
- Wendy Krakauer (Board Vice President)
- Eileen Farley (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Eileen Farley (Executive Director): $68,930 total reported compensation
- Jeanette Brinster (Deputy Director): $59,243 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Northwest Defenders Association is committed to equal justice and the defense of individual liberty. Attorneys and staff work to provide vigorous and effective representation; to protect clients constitutional rights and to improve the justice system. Northwest Defenders Association employees share a commitment to social justice, team work and active engagement with the community.
What it reported doing in 2013
Northwest Defenders Association, now named Northwest Advocates for Justice, is a Washington not-for-profit corporation managed by an Executive Director under the direction of an eight member volunteer Board of Directors who meet monthly. The agency's clients are restricted to indigent persons eligible for appointed counsel and those whom the agency is appointed by a court to represent. The agency represented clients during the first six months of 2013. Beginning July 1, 2013 King County assumed direct responsibility for providing public defense representation and assumed the responsibility for the agency's current clients. During the first six months of 2013 the agency employed approximately 32 attorneys who provided representation to approximately 2,000 clients. Attorneys in the Felony Unit provided representation to approximately 600 clients charged with a felony or appearing in a review of sentencing conditions.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 100% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.1%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: -5.4% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2010 to 2013
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.