Texas Riogrande Public Defender

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
933698439
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
San Antonio, TX, USA
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,552,700
Expenses
$6,056,731
Assets
$863,190
Liabilities
$338,391

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kimberly Simmons thru Oct 2024 (Former Executive Director)
  • Loura Proska thru July 2025 (Interim Executive Director)
  • David Silberthau (Incoming Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Juan Carlos Duron (Managing Public Defender): $114,919 total reported compensation
  • Kimberly Simmons thru Oct 2024 (Former Executive Director): $114,031 total reported compensation
  • Loura Proska thru July 2025 (Interim Executive Director): $103,235 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

In rural counties with limited resources, Texas Rio Grande Public Defender delivers free, top-tier legal representation to indigent clients. Our diverse network of skilled advocates collaborates to defend the disadvantaged and protect individual rights.

What it reported doing in 2024

TRGPD staff advocate for clients at all stages of the criminal legal process ensuring due process protections and challenging unlawful arrests and prosecutions. TRGPD provides legal defense for individuals criminally charged under two branches of programs - Texas' Operation Lone Star (OLS), a state-led border enforcement initiative and our Traditional Public Defender offices. We disposed of 1076 OLS cases from Sept 2024 to Sept 2025. On our traditional public defender office side, we disposed 1202 cases from Sept 2024 to Sept 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 99% 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. 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: 84
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 80.5%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 71; 71st 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -9.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.1%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -40.1% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -31.9% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.9% of revenue deployed · 80.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.