The Sentencing Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521472546
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2026280871
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,801,699
- Expenses
- $4,809,745
- Assets
- $10,334,995
- Liabilities
- $394,439
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARC MAUER (PRESIDENT)
- OLINDA MOYD (VICE-PRESIDENT)
- KARA GOTSCH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- KARA GOTSCH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $226,983 total reported compensation
- DANIEL BARASH (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS): $172,573 total reported compensation
- NICOLE PORTER (SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY): $167,209 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Research and education on criminal justice policy issues, and advocacy for criminal justice reform.
What it reported doing in 2025
Extreme sentencing: the organization plays a leadership role in sentencing reform activities: publishing research, educating media, lawmakers, and the public, and advocating for change to address the substantial increase in the prison population over the last 50 years. The organization has prioritized the study of life imprisonment in the united states and understanding its impact on prison population increases, aging behind bars, and the consequences of lifelong imprisonment on young people and emerging adults. The organization works in coalition with other organizations to promote additional opportunities for sentence reduction to address unfairness in the system. In response to the evolving second look movement, the organization launched the second look network (the network) in march 2023.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.1%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 74.1%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.5%; rating input score 99; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 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: Pass
- 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: -0.2%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.15; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 74.1% of revenue deployed · 74.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $3.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $227K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $513K reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 6 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.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.