Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 132522784
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2025456671
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $12,321,131
- Expenses
- $12,812,318
- Assets
- $40,621,292
- Liabilities
- $6,167,097
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
51 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KERRY KENNEDY (PRESIDENT OF RFKHR)
- LYNN DELANEY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- ANTHONY ENRIQUEZ (VICE PRESIDENT, U.S. ADVOCACY & LITIGATION)
Highest reported compensation
- KERRY KENNEDY (PRESIDENT OF RFKHR): $500,254 total reported compensation
- MICHAEL SCHREIBER (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $437,899 total reported compensation
- LYNN DELANEY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $343,710 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Robert f. Kennedy boldly faced tough problems and challenged the comfortable and complacent. He believed that individual action could overcome injustice and oppression. He awakened unknown strengths and inspired a generation to change the world. Established in 1968 by friends and family of robert kennedy, the robert f. Kennedy center for justice and human rights (the "center") is a nonprofit charitable organization that for over three decades has furthered the vision and spirit of robert kennedy by advancing respect for human rights and social justice for all people and promoting the idea that individual action can make a difference through commitment to civic and community affairs.
What it reported doing in 2024
Speak truth to power(sttp): at rkfhr, we understand the imminent need to provide transformative and systematic human rights education to prevent violations from occurring. Aligned with the principles of the declaration of human rights education and training, speak truth to power (sttp), is: 1) about human rights, which includes providing knowledge of the human rights framework and the mechanisms for its protection; 2) through human rights, which includes learning and teaching in a way that respects the rights of educators and students; and 3) for human rights, which includes empowering students to recognize and protect their rights and those of others. Under this framework and through storytelling, sttp constructs a world in which human rights education is ingrained into the fabric of all educators' pedagogy, and where young people have the effective mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors to defend and advance human rights as the next generation of human rights defenders. Sttp seeks educational partners such as teachers organizations and unions, school districts, foundations and education officials to bring the educator training and educational resources to more students. It is continually expanding its reach in the us and abroad. Current domestic programming occurs in New York city, Washington d.c., philadelphia, Connecticut, memphis, san diego, indianapolis, los angeles, austin, and chicago. Our current global work includes spain, uk, switzerland, greece, italy, sweden, denmark, sarajevo, and mexico.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 99
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.6%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 63.9%; rating input score 64
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd 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: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Pass
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 51.9%; rating input score 52; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 97.6%; rating input score 98; 31st 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: -4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.17; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.6% of revenue deployed · 63.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 41 of 42 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 8 filed program accomplishments · $8.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $500K · 51 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $764K reported
- Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 52/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.