South Carolina Bar

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
570610103
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Columbia, SC, USA
Phone
8037996653
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,715,474
Expenses
$11,019,380
Assets
$27,010,677
Liabilities
$7,333,109

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RUSSELL THOMAS INFINGER (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • SHAHEENA R BENNETT (PRESIDENT)
  • CHRISTOPHER R KOON (PRESIDENT-ELECT)
  • EMMA T DEAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • EMMA T DEAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $260,391 total reported compensation
  • JOHN T BURNETT (CLE DIRECTOR): $187,373 total reported compensation
  • JILL ROTHSTEIN (GENERAL COUNSEL): $156,070 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To uphold the constitution and to continually improve the administration of justice throughout the state of South Carolina.

What it reported doing in 2024

This program consists of a wide range of offerings by the bar to its members. These offerings include the staffing of committees and sections, practice management assistance, accesss to online legal research, a lending library, the sc bar connect communications platform for members, sc lawyer magazine, all of the communications to bar members on various channels and platforms, the ethics hotline, the bar website, the lawyer mentoring program, layers helping lawyers, and government affairs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 75% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.9%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.45; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.4% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $9.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $260K · 26 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.