Trans Journalists Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 932276958
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 9174268308
- Rating
- 68
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $684,056
- Expenses
- $370,615
- Assets
- $718,846
- Liabilities
- $27,450
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- K PETRIN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- K PETRIN (PRESIDENT): $26,262 total reported compensation
- ADAM RHODES (FORMER SECRETARY): $200 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Tja's central charitable and educational mission is to support rigorous, respectful reporting on trans communities through outreach to newsrooms, and to increase trans journalists' opportunities for success in the media industry.
What it reported doing in 2025
Level Up - Designed to help journalists achieve their career development goals, this program covers small, one time costs (via $250 and $500 stipends) for journalists seeking to attend a conference, participate in a skills workshop, or take career-enhancing training. We also prioritized applicants who are particularly invested in covering gender justice or speaking to the broader journalism industry, which furthers TJA's coverage goals. For our inaugural round, we set aside stipends specifically for student journalists and early-career journalists who never attended a formal journalism program. In total across two rounds, we directly invested $27,000 into the careers of 53 members. Additional expenses went to marketing, promotion, and program management.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 46
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 31.9%; rating input score 32
- Program expense ratio: 58.8%; rating input score 59
- Fundraising efficiency: $43.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 50%; rating input score 50; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: 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: 45.8%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.94; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.1%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 126.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 87.3% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 97.2% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 31.9% of revenue deployed · 58.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $218K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 32/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grants require schedule f did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.