Shreveport Bar Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
721115393
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Shreveport, LA, USA
Phone
3182223643
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$620,080
Expenses
$621,089
Assets
$1,280,938
Liabilities
$51,172

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANDREW MARTIN (PRESIDENT)
  • DAVID L WHITE (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • ALLISON C FOSTER (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANA SOUTHERN (EXECUTIVE DIR.): $32,002 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 shreveport bar foundation (sbf) provides charitable legal assistance & educational activities to the public and operates a pro bono project providing free civil legal assistance to low income clients at or below the federal poverty income level in areas of family law, domestic protective orders, successions, & other miscellaneous civil legal matters.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sbf provides pro bono assistance in civil matters to persons at or below the federal poverty income level. Related activities include free civil legal assistance to these clients in the areas of family law, domestic violence protective orders, successions, & uncontested divorces; a free ask-a-lawyer clinic each month at the shreveport bar center, a building owned and operated by sbf; a pro se library that is available to the public for a safe and private environment to research legal issues with the assistance of sbf staff. In addition, sbf operates in partnership with caddo parish juvenile court and first judicial district court, legal aid of north la, northwest la family justice center and project celebration inc. To accept referrals for representation of their clients for cases involving successions, uncontested divorces and domestic violence protective orders for the caddo, bossier and other parishes in northwest la. Sbf regularly networks with shreveport-bossier rescue mission, bossier parish domestic violence task force, salvation army and caddo parish victims assistance program.in 2021, a total of 45 volunteer attorneys donated 660 hours of legal services to assist 825 clients.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 75% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.3%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 96.1%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: $65.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.2%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.06; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.2%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.3% of revenue deployed · 96.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $597K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $32K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.