WHEN Justice
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 331372498
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Lafayette, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9256402987
- Rating
- 56
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,308,427
- Expenses
- $2,406,871
- Assets
- $722,488
- Liabilities
- $303,439
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Roland Peralta (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Jacqueline Biner (ED/Sec/Treas): $276,048 total reported compensation
- Whitney Bounty (Director): $180,574 total reported compensation
- James Tager (Director): $119,423 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of WHEN Justice is to build a cleaner, safer, and more just world by advocating for stronger health, environmental, and safety laws, regulations and policies. Through impact litigation, education, and advocacy, Applicant mobilizes a community of passionate supporters to drive meaningful, long-lasting change.
What it reported doing in 2025
2025
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 93% 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. 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: 54
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 40
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 53.1%; rating input score 53
- Program expense ratio: 68.4%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 27.3%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 28.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 182.7% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 167.7% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 115.9% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 53.1% of revenue deployed · 68.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $276K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.1M reported
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 53/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.