Pennsylvania Bar Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
236412256
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Harrisburg, PA, USA
Phone
7177960804
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,143,408
Expenses
$5,329,517
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LARRY E COPLOFF (PRESIDENT)
  • TRACI L NAUGLE (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BARRY M SIMPSON (DIRECTOR): $347,600 total reported compensation
  • CAROLYN L WEPFER (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR): $192,254 total reported compensation
  • PAMELA SMITH (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR): $150,742 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To bring excellence to continuing legal education by providing Pennsylvania lawyers with information that is timely, practical, cost effective, and of the highest possible quality

What it reported doing in 2019

Pbi was organized in 1965 by the Pennsylvania bar association to serve its members and to provide continuing legal education (cle) to lawyers, judges and other members of the public interested in the law. As the cle arm of the association, pbi provides cle, publications, and other educational services that are timely, practical, cost effective, convenient, and of the highest possible quality for lawyers throughout Pennsylvania, in every area of practice and at every level of experience. Pbi is dedicated to excellence in cle and to serving the public interest by supporting the legal system and the delivery of high quality legal services in Pennsylvania. Pbi is a nonprofit, self-sustaining organization supported by revenues derived from course enrollments and the sale of books, cds, dvds, audiotapes and videotapes. Pbi's educational services are directly dependent on thousands of hours of professional services contributed by many of Pennsylvania's most experienced lawyers and judges. These highly dedicated individuals generously donate their services to assist pbi in planning and teaching courses of study and in preparing instructional materials. Pbi's courses of study assist all Pennsylvania lawyers in maintaining and enhancing their professional competence and in fulfilling their cle requirements. Pbi's educational services are available to all interested members of the public and the legal community. Pbi provides scholarships in the form of partial tuition waivers to assist lawyers with financial difficulties in maintaining their competence and attorney license. Tuition waivers are provided for attorneys working for legal service offices and law-related public interest organizations throughout Pennsylvania in support of the judicial system. Pbi provides reduced tuition fees and charges for pbi publications to judges, law clerks and other court related personnel services to the profession every day. Hundreds of lawyers look to pbi for courses of study and publications to support their practice. Pbi courses are presented throughout the commonwealth and are made available through live seminars, webcasts, podcasts, on-demand programs, video conferencing and videotaped replays. Members of other professions and interested members of the public-at-large are invited to attend pbi courses in order to foster and improve their understanding and knowledge of the law. In addition to its hundreds of popular "yellow books," prepared for seminars, pbi publishes a collection of practice books that are professionally designed, edited, cite checked, typeset, indexed, and kept up to date through the cooperative efforts of staff and authors. These standalone references appear in print e book and other and electronic formats and are regularly supplemented. Pbi has developed an extensive catalog of courses which are electronnicly on demand. Additional courses are regularly being added to this on-line campus. Pbi also offers forms on usb drives as companions to appropriate publications services to the judiciary. Pbi is committed to serving the judiciary and the legal system in Pennsylvania through its course offerings and publications. Pbi courses and publications are made available to the judiciary at a reduced cost. Pbi has supported the educational efforts of the state conference of trial judges by providing the services of its staff to assist in the development of educational programs presented at conference meetings to the Pennsylvania bar association (pba). Pbi works closely with pba and with pba sections and committees in meeting. The cle needs of pba members and in otherwise supporting activities of pba that are consistent with pbi's mission and tax-exempt purpose support for legal services/pro bono initiative, and the general public. Pbi provides discounted cle to assist lawyers employed by nonprofit legal services organizations in meeting their training needs and annual cle requirements. Pbi also provides substantial tuition discounts or w

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 74%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 96%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.6%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -10.4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.2% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.4% of revenue deployed · 74% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 25 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $348K · 27 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $211K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2010 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.