Pennsylvania Association for Justice

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237097965
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Harrisburg, PA, USA
Phone
7172326478
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,433,350
Expenses
$2,190,179
Assets
$2,824,206
Liabilities
$1,042,922

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

Leadership & pay

123 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ERIC PURCHASE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ERIC WEITZ (PRESIDENT)
  • ELIZABETH CHIAPPETTA (PAST-PRESIDENT)
  • LAWRENCE KELLY (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • JASON MATZUS (PAST-PRESIDENT)
  • JOSHUA GEIST (PAST PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LISA BENZIE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $309,819 total reported compensation
  • ERIK MOCK (DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS): $258,431 total reported compensation
  • ALEXANDRA D'ANGOLA FETZKO (LOBBYIST): $223,987 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See schedule o.the mission of the Pennsylvania association for justice is to promote a fair and effective justice system and to support attorneys as they work to ensure that any person who is injured by the misconduct or negligence of others can obtain justice in Pennsylvania's courtrooms, even when taking on the most powerful interests.

What it reported doing in 2025

Member services - sections: consists of meetings throughout the year and listservers for each section, as with the other sections, for the education and benefit of all members. Diversity initiative: consists of helping law students become members of paj and exposes them to law firm life for the summer by paj volunteer firms for the benefit of all members with the goal of diversifying the practice.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 107 of 107 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $310K · 123 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $240K reported
  • Consistency: 12 of 13 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.