Stono Institute for Freedom Justice and Security

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851259023
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
Phone
3126178622
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$23,488
Expenses
$105,158
Assets
$8,380
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR JEREMY LEVITT (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR JEREMY LEVITT (PRESIDENT): $35,000 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 stono institue for freedom, justice and security (sifjs) is the first human rights institution and think tank founded by african-americans aimed at achieving racial justice.

What it reported doing in 2024

Human rights education and advocacy program: sifjss human rights advocacy program aims to: 1) safeguard the fundamental human rights of african-americans; 2) educate, train and empower the public about vital racial justice issues; and 3) promote the greater ideals of freedom, equality, equity, justice and humanity in central Florida and beyond. The sifjs also regularly organizes master seminars, webinars, face-to-face trainings on a myriad of topics from institutionalized racism and corporate social responsibility, to christian nationalism and terrorism. We partner with the business community, law enforcement, civil society and others to assist victims of racial injustice seek justice, support community-based restorative justice initiatives, and police education and training. Sifjss police advocacy and accountability project is the human rights education and advocacy programs signature initiative. It is a people-to-people driven initiative that provides a safe, secure, and supportive environment for alleged victims of police abuse and violent white extremist vigilantism to receive moral and legal assistance. We also provide race conscious, bias free policing, and racial justice de-escalation education and training to communities of color and law enforcement agencies. As a part of our human rights education and advocacy program, sifjs developed a comprehensive and innovative online police training course titled: black americans: race conscious, racial bias, and discriminatory policing and unlawful traffic stops. This innovative curriculum was created for law enforcement professionals and has been used to train, among others, Florida department of law enforcement (fdle) commanders. Specifically, this groundbreaking curriculum and our other racial justice de-escalation initiatives are designed to combat anti-black bias in policing and reduce excessive uses of force by: 1) building trust, familiarity, empathy and community cooperation between police officers and black youth and adults through a series of race conscious trainings using face to face conversations, role playing, case scenarios and teachings in african american history and culture and; 2) training youth and adults in de-escalation strategies to reduce conflict and deadly violence during traffic stops and other interactions with police.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 92% 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

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

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -347.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.3%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -15.1% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -36% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $90K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $35K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.