Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824969210
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2021
Forms available
Form 990 2021
Location
New Orleans, LA, USA
Phone
5042642189
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$586,415
Expenses
$621,787
Assets
$156,432
Liabilities
$19,361

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jenna Losh (President)

People named in this filing

  • Jenna Losh (President)
  • Leslie Molson (Treasurer)
  • John Burkhart (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC) is a diverse, grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations from across New Orleans who have come together to shrink the size of the jail and improve the conditions of confinement for those held in detention in Orleans Parish.

What it reported doing in 2021

Help Not Handcuffs Campaign - OPPRC organized the community, and the New Orleans City Council unanimously voted to pass an ordinance that requires officers to issue a summons in lieu of arrest for low-level arrests and misdemeanor violations. As COVID-19 spread through New Orleans in the spring of 2020, OPPRC pressured the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) to stop arresting people for low-level offenses. Then, as New Orleans became a hotspot for COVID-19, NOPD officers continued to bring people to jail for minor violations. OPPRC worked to change the police department's arrest policy. As part of this effort, OPPRC and partners exchanged letters with NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson and City of New Orleans Mayor Cantrell calling for an immediate change in arrest policy that would decrease unnecessary, physical interactions with the community. To strengthen advocacy, OPPRC helped amplify a motorcade protest to draw attention to the issue, created a petition demanding a change in arrest protocol, and organized phone bank events with community partners to pressure elected officials. The passage of this ordinance reduced unnecessary physical interactions between law enforcement and community members, reduced the number of community members subject to detainment dangers during the global pandemic, and protected the public's health by minimizing the spread of COVID-19 in the jail, among law enforcement officers, and in our community. OPPRC pushed NOPD to stop arresting people for low-level offenses and to end informational checkpoints that were disproportionately located in Black and brown communities. As part of this effort, OPPRC created a Facebook group to monitor where the NOPD checkpoints were located and inform the community-at-large. As a result of our actions and community pressure, the NOPD closed the checkpoints.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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 - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 72.6%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 103.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 41.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77% of revenue deployed · 72.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $451K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2020 to 2021
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

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

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.