Pacific Ombudsman for Humanitarian Law

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
660804748
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Saipan, MP, USA
Phone
6702349480
Rating
60
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$255,817
Expenses
$187,899
Assets
$141,925
Liabilities
$66,654

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Anthony Babauta (Board of Directors / President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Pamela Brown Blackburn (Board of Directors / Secretary): $42,464 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Pacific Ombudsman for Humanitarian Law is organized and operate for the following purposes: to provide legal services and counseling to indigent nationals and aliens within the Pacific Region, which includes U.S. Territories, Freely Associated States, and Island Nations, who are victims of immigration abuse , fraud in foreign labor contracting, trafficking in persons, labor abuse, debt bondage, peonage, employment discriminations or other criminals activities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Specialized Services for Human Trafficking Victims: Improving Legal Services for Human Trafficking Victims. Original Solicitation OVC FY 2021 Services for Victims of Human Trafficking. Awardee PACIFIC OMBUDSMAN FOR HUMANITARIAN LAW. Award # 15POVC-21-GG-04222-HT. Pacific Ombudsman for Humanitarian Law (POHL) is the lead human trafficking pro bono legal service provider in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the surrounding region. POHL's office in Chalan Kanoa serves as a first point of contact for many victims and POHL actively engages with victims to determine what legal options are best for each respectively. Project funds will be used to (1) expand the availability of POHL's bilingual legal assistance by hiring an additional bilingual paralegal and increasing access to bilingual paralegals for the anticipated number of victims seeking assistance; (2) train POHL frontline personnel regarding a comprehensive education in legal assistance for victims of human trafficking to ensure sustainability after the ILS project; and (3) improve POHL's financial management system to a state of the art level and capacity. The overall goal of the project is to help victims of human trafficking to transition into living full and normal lives. At the end of the three-year project period, POHL will have provided at least 100 human trafficking victims legal services that will provide them the support in navigating the federal system while seeking return to the community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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: 39
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 38.8%; rating input score 39
  • Program expense ratio: 52.8%; rating input score 53
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 26.5%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.47; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.6%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -16.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -12.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 38.8% of revenue deployed · 52.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $99K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 39/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.