Scale Justice Network Inc Fka Pro Bono Net Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
061521179
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2127602554
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Interest Law

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,271,764
Expenses
$4,697,782
Assets
$2,217,666
Liabilities
$368,964

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ZACH ZARNOW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • RODRIGO CAMARENA (INTERIM ED / CHIEF INNOVATION OFFI): $194,331 total reported compensation
  • DONALD BELLAMY (SR DEVELOPER): $184,528 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH KEITH (INTERIM ED / CHIEF PARTNERSHIP OFF): $176,791 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Scale justice builds digital tools and partnerships that help millions of people navigate the law, access justice, and live more secure lives. We achieve our mission by:- helping millions of people understand their legal rights and navigate our civil justice system- serving as a mission-driven partner to help allied organizations grow their reach and impact- championing systemic change to build a future where the power of the law belongs to everyone

What it reported doing in 2025

Civil justice program: our civil justice program incubates, scales and manages innovative online programs and partnerships that help people navigate the legal system and make that system fairer for everyone. Civil justice program services and accomplishments include: lawhelp.org, our network of statewide legal information portals in 15 states, helps millions of people without lawyers understand their rights, make informed decisions, and connect with free and low-cost help in their local community. Lawhelpny, the leading consumer legal information and referral resource for low-income new yorkers, provides nearly half a million new yorkers a year with plain language legal rights resources and referrals to trusted service providers to help protect their housing, safety, public benefits, families and more.lawhelp interactive (lhi), our self-help platform for creating legal documents, helps more than a million low-income and economically vulnerable individuals create free and accurate court forms and self-advocacy letters simply and easily, an essential step in being able to exercise, voice and defend their rights.multiple purpose built digital tools that increase access to jutice, including: legal risk detector, our web-based legal health "check-up" tool used by eldercare professionals to screen thousands of at-risk older adults for legal needs and easily refer them to legal services. Citizenship works, a guided interview and process navigation tool to help people applying for legal citizenship. Recalmo, a worker empowerment and wage theft tool for New York state.

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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.6%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • 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 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.6% of revenue deployed · 78.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $194K · 30 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $380K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.