Public Interest Legal Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454355641
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Phone
3172035599
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Interest Law

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,896,517
Expenses
$3,810,015
Assets
$2,431,482
Liabilities
$143,221

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN CHRISTIAN ADAMS (PRES GENERAL): $273,833 total reported compensation
  • NOEL JOHNSON (LITIGATION C): $171,000 total reported compensation
  • KAYLAN PHILLIPS (LITIGATION C): $162,525 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization exists to provide services and representation to states and election officials, to assist them with the exercise of their civil and constitutional rights, with particular focus on voting rights. Pilf provides education to citizens and election officials regarding election process laws and how they affect policy and consititutional architecture.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education and advocacy - pilf has a focused effort to raise awareness of vital issues such as non-citizens voting , lack of citizen verification and other shortfails in the current election process. Pilf has marshalled expert resources to help educate citizens, officials and decision makers about the role of election process laws and how they affect policy and constitutional architecture. Pilf assists election officials in devising election integrity policies. Pilf has responded to requests for assistance from election officials and legislatures to discuss best practices for voter roll maintenance. Pilf has a completed research projects and published reports regarding best practices for voter roll maintenance and the consequences of lack of citizenship verification in the election process. Pilf attorneys have testified before legislative bodies presenting and discussing pilf's research and reports.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 83
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.2%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.2%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.9%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.2% of revenue deployed · 77.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $274K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.