Poetic Justice Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
475673816
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Tulsa, OK, USA
Phone
9189734810
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Inmate Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$299,112
Expenses
$311,449
Assets
$284,260
Liabilities
$2,323

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELLEN STACKABLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JOHN BUDD (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELLEN STACKABLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $48,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Poetic justic inc is dedicated to bringing poetry and writing to incarcerated women. Through our 5 week classes at different prisons and jails, poetic justic uses a personal curriculum to cover the foundations of poetry instruction in an intensive writing workshop. Poetic justic encourages women to find their own value through words. This results in a sense of self worth, which leads to hope, which leads to positive change.

What it reported doing in 2025

Journalism programin 2025, both newspapers were distributed to both prisons--over 2000 readers. The newspapers also won national awards for their excellence.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.6%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 81.2%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

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: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.1%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.6% of revenue deployed · 81.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $253K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.