Project Expedite Justice

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814018785
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Kealakekua, HI, USA
Phone
5086405878
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Human Rights

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,853,066
Expenses
$6,071,389
Assets
$6,509,032
Liabilities
$665,829

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENNIE MONTANO (PRESIDENT 1/1/24-12/12/24)
  • BRETT CAREY (BOARD MEMBER, PRESIDENT AS OF 12/12/24)
  • CYNTHIA TAI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY)

Highest reported compensation

  • CYNTHIA TAI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY): $233,161 total reported compensation
  • GERALD GAHIMA (COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR SUDAN PROGRAM): $122,375 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Project expedite justice's mission is to assist victims of mass atrocities and serious human rights abuses to find justice through all available legal mechanisms.

What it reported doing in 2024

Project expedite justices mission is to assist victims of mass atrocities and serious human rights abuses to find justice through all available legal mechanisms. Pej equips local actors to stop human rights abuses, both now and in the future. We start by training local investigators where populations have been marginalized. The local investigators are trained in concepts related to international criminal law and evidence collection procedures. Thereafter, we guide and monitor the investigators as they collect information. We carry out research to identify the most promising legal forum to pursue accountability and guide appropriate cases through the legal process. In 2024, we continued our effort to support and file cases increased our mentoring and training sessions, and our number of trainees and trainers and did investigative missions to collect evidence. We also won legal victories and increased the capacity of dozens of local groups to document and store evidence.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $42.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 33rd 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.7%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.07; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 39.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 41.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 44.7% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.9% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $233K · 9 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $540K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.