The Junior League of Houston Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
741185659
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
7136224191
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Women's Service Clubs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,395,594
Expenses
$7,025,932
Assets
$24,963,689
Liabilities
$2,856,605

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

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mary Lee Wilkens (President)
  • Katherine Doyle (President-Elect)
  • Kelly Hickman (Community Vice President)
  • Judy Peterson (Development Vice President)
  • Kaitlyn Zapalac (Financial Vice President)
  • Michelle Esparza (Membership Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rebecca Pivec (Administrative Director): $167,615 total reported compensation
  • Malcolm Rowland (Tea Room General Manager): $159,768 total reported compensation
  • Pedro Sanchez (Tea Room Assistant Manager): $123,677 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See Schedule OThe Junior League of Houston, Inc. is an organization of women whose mission is to advance women's leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration, and training. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. The League has been "Building A Better Community" by addressing community needs, including basic needs, abuse of women and children, healthcare, education, and cultural enrichment for 100 years.

What it reported doing in 2024

Tea Room - See Schedule OTea Room: The Junior League of Houston, Inc. established its first community project as a clinic for disadvantaged children. The clinic created the foundation for the League's relationships with major medical resources in Houston, including Baylor College of Medicine, Ben Taub Hospital, Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center, Texas Children's Hospital, and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. To fund the clinic, members formed a Luncheon Club - the genesis of today's Tea Room. The Tea Room supports the League's exempt purposes by serving as a training facility where members are educated in the discipline of service, which is then carried into various community service projects the League undertakes. The training and education afforded by the Tea Room enable members to be more effective and efficient community volunteers. The Tea Room exclusively serves its Tea Room patron members, League members, and their guests.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.8%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $61.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 24th 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: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 38.3%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.55; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.8% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $168K · 24 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 40 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 38 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.