Texas Appleseed

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742804268
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Phone
5124732800
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$9,342,719
Expenses
$9,811,781
Assets
$10,415,807
Liabilities
$804,490

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

Leadership & pay

53 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Gina Debottis Metts (President)
  • Ann Marie Painter (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Linda Brooke (Monitoring Dir.): $305,172 total reported compensation
  • Deborah Fowler (Executive Dir.): $293,870 total reported compensation
  • Viveca Martinez (Deputy Director): $258,342 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 promote social, economic, and racial justice for all Texans by leveraging the skills and resources of volunteer lawyers, other professionals, and community partners to identify practical solutions to difficult, systemic problems.

What it reported doing in 2024

As part of the K-12 work, the Organization advocated for law and policy changes at the state level, as well as the local and school district level to close pathways for students to dropout and eliminate contact with the criminal legal system. The Organization worked with coalitions, community organizations, schools, teachers, and students from a policy perspective to foster safe and supportive environments where all students can thrive, regardless of race, income, background, or ZIP code. For higher education, work focused on diversity in the legal profession and equitable access to law school for all qualifies students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th 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: 63.6%; rating input score 64; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • 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%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.3%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 46 of 46 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 8 filed program accomplishments · $8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $305K · 53 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.9M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.