The Rhode Island Center for Justice
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 465295722
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2013
- Location
- Providence, RI, USA
- Phone
- 4014911101
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,733,784
- Expenses
- $1,255,313
- Assets
- $2,262,380
- Liabilities
- $24,333
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JENNIFER WOOD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER WOOD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $126,752 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 increase access to justice in Rhode Island by providing free legal assistance to low-income individuals, families and communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
During the fiscal year the Rhode Island center for justice continued to provide free legal assistance to low-income rhode islanders and expanded into additional areas of critical need including the representation of public-school students to support their educational and constitutional rights and the representation of incarcerated individuals to protect against violations of their civil rights. The Rhode Island center for justice also became an active participant in the immigrant coalition, a group of over thirty organizations assisting immigrants to understand their rights and get support for their children. In the six core areas of advocacy, (housing, employment, utilities education, civil rights, and support to immigrants), the center for justice staff again directly assisted hundreds of households.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
STRONG - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.3%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 92.9%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 27.6%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.8; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.1%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.3% of revenue deployed · 92.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $127K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.