Uncommon Law

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
461538094
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5102710310
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,647,918
Expenses
$4,369,311
Assets
$7,201,943
Liabilities
$412,211

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KEITH WATTLEY (Executive Dir.): $201,221 total reported compensation
  • Lilliana Paratore (Legal Director): $144,078 total reported compensation
  • Katy Dybwad (Dir.Finance & Oper): $136,078 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Uncommon law's mission is to provide access to justice and healing for people impacted by incarceration. We deliver trauma-informed, healing-centered mental health and legal counseling to help provide a safe pathway home for people currently serving lengthy prison terms in California prisons. We represent people in their parole hearings and habeas petitions, and we engage in litigation and policy advocacy to address systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system. We also provide training for people in prison, attorneys, family members, and law students in order to improve the overall quality of preparation for and representation in parole hearings. Our clients cannot be released from prison unless and until they have participated in counseling and other training programs, and can show the California parole board they can safely rejoin their communities. We help them get ready to make that showing.

What it reported doing in 2024

In-Prison Programming:- Graduated 42 participants from our 10-month Home After Harm, Pathways for Parole Success, along with three Peer Mentor graduates, and enrolled 80 new participants total at California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) and Salinas Valley State Prison for graduations in 2025. From our graduates:100% understood the parole hearing process as a result of the program - 97% knew how to articulate and connect the events in their lives that led to incarceration - 100% understood how to demonstrate insight in my parole hearing - 97% knew how to mentally and emotionally prepare for my parole hearing - 95% reported an overall positive sense of well-being at the end of the program, and another 95% reported their overall sense of hope and outlook for the future is positive.- Completed seven intensive parole readiness workshops across six prisons with a total of 355 participants. From the workshop participants: - 98% of participants left the workshop with a better understanding of the Boards expectations - 90% of participants reported higher confidence in their ability to receive a parole grant

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 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 - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.8%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $65.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 19th 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: 42.9%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.65; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.8% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $201K · 13 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.