The JFA Institute

Legal name: The Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383680643
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3033993218
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Religion Related N.E.C.
Affiliation
Religious (unspecified)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$865,305
Expenses
$553,638
Assets
$5,939,957
Liabilities
$3,314,325

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WENDY NARO-WARE (PRESIDENT)
  • JANICE DAVIS (BOARD PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • WENDY NARO-WARE (PRESIDENT): $274,000 total reported compensation
  • DR JAMES AUSTIN (SECRETARY): $42,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Conducting criminal justice research for effective policy making.

What it reported doing in 2025

The institute presents a multi-disciplinary research center whose mission is to conduct theoretical and applied research on the causes of crime and the justice system's responses to crime and offenders. The institute disseminates its studies and policy recommendations through research reports, criminal justice and criminology periodicals, books, and seminars. Training, research, and technical assistance is provided to federal, state, and local agencies in the form of correctional population projections, policy impact simulation models, mapping systems, juvenile justice research, recidivism tracking, parole guidelines, probation and parole risk assessments and justice/corectional program evalutions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 46.6%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.73; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.56; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 46.6% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $554K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $274K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.