Texas Bar College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
020581226
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Phone
5124271481
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$460,960
Expenses
$349,498
Assets
$1,132,867
Liabilities
$241,342

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Hedy Bower (Executive Director TBC)

Highest reported compensation

  • Hedy Bower (Executive Director TBC): $165,758 total reported compensation
  • Katherine Korrodi (Managing Director): $83,888 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 College recognizes and encourages lawyers who maintain and enhance their professional skills and the quality of their service to the public by significant voluntary participation in legal education; promotes among members of the State Bar and the general public the educational and public purposes of the College and its members; recognizes and encourages outstanding service to the legal profession and to the public; and sponsors or otherwise assists in educational activities of significant merit and widespread relevance and applicability to the legal profession.

What it reported doing in 2024

The College recognizes Texas lawyers who have completed educational requirements above and beyond mandatory continuing legal education requirements of the State of Texas. For fiscal year 2024 the College had 5,181 members including maintaining members initial members and reinstated members. Requirements for eligibility to join the College are a minimum of 45 hours of continuing legal education CLE in one calendar year or 80 hours reported over three years. To maintain membership members must report a minimum of 30 hours of CLE per year instead of the minimum 15 hours to maintain their license to practice law in Texas.

Operating model

Revenue model
Membership-supported. 84% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 53
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.6%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 92.5%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd 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: 42.9%; rating input score 43; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.2%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.24; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.6% of revenue deployed · 92.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $323K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $166K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.