Administer Justice
Administer Justice
Elgin IL | IRS ruling year: 2012 | EIN: 45-3450789
Organization Mission
Empowering vulnerable neighbors with the help of a lawyer and the hope of Gods love
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Elgin IL | IRS ruling year: 2012 | EIN: 45-3450789
Organization Mission
Empowering vulnerable neighbors with the help of a lawyer and the hope of Gods love
Great
This charity's score is 100%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 85% Accountability & Finance, 10% Leadership & Adaptability, 5% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charity’s success. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organization’s overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned.
Use the tool below to select different beacons to see how the weighting shifts when only one, two, or three beacons are earned.
Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!
Score
Most Recent Fiscal Year:
FY 2022
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
Learn more
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. We check to see if at least 50% of board members are indentified as independent on their tax form.
Source: IRS Form 990
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. For most organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least three board members. For large, donor-funded organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least five independent board members
Source: IRS Form 990
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
$2 million or higher and 40% or higher donor support | Expected to complete an audit and have an audit oversight committee |
$1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
$500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
A diversion of assets — any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft — also can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We review the charity's most recent IRS Form 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the IRS Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
For almost all charities, we check the charity's IRS Form 990 to see if it discloses that the Form 990 is available on the charity's website. As with the audited financial statement, donors need easy access to this financial report to help determine if the organization is managing its financial resources well.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent IRS Form 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization's solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three IRS Forms 990). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Source: IRS Form 990
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
No Data Available
Salary data is coming soon.
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Administer Justice) or EIN (453450789) in the 'Search Term' field.
Not Currently Scored
Administer Justice cannot currently be evaluated by our Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Score
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves.
Learn more
100% of beacon score
This organization reported that it is collecting feedback from the constituents and/or communities it serves. The methodology leveraged for Constituent Feedback is based on The Core Principles of Constituent Feedback, which describes listening and responding well to feedback. Charity Navigator participates in a consortium with other feedback experts and leading nonprofit infrastructure platforms to drive Constituent Feedback's advancement, promotion, and data collection.
Who are the people you serve with your mission? Describe briefly.
Our Gospel Justice Centers serve individuals in the community who cannot afford access to civil legal guidance. Legal issues may include but not be limited to these areas of law: family, probate, immigration, tax, consumer, employment, housing, and criminal law. The vulnerable are 21% more likely to be abused; 47% more likely to experience financial, physical, and emotional loss; and 70% more likely to need public assistance.
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Case management notes
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
With whom does your organization share the feedback you got from the people you serve?
Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners
How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship with them or shifted power - over decisions, resources, rules or in other ways - to them?
Asking for feedback puts our clients in the driver’s seat. They are our main customer that we aim to serve. When they express satisfaction &/ or dissatisfaction over any area of their experience, we respond through improved communication & training with our volunteers through our internal commitment and process of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
What challenges does your organization face in collecting feedback from the people you serve?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Briefly describe a recent change that your organization made in response to feedback from the people you serve.
As we receive feedback from our client experience survey, we have used that feedback to bolster our volunteer training by emphasizing the areas that our clients appreciate most and enhancing training in areas that need improvement, so that volunteers at our Gospel Justice Centers can provide high quality and responsive service to their neighbors in need. We have started passing along the client experience surveys to our centers in a timely manner so that client experiences can be celebrated and improvements can be made where needed.
This organization has not provided information regarding the Equity Practices it is presently implementing. As such, the organization has not earned a score on this metric. This assessment demonstrates the importance of implementing practices that contribute positively to an organization's overall culture, both internally and with respect to community engagement. Furthermore, equity centered frameworks and similar approaches have drawn much attention from donors, experts, and sector leaders who underscore its value to the nonprofit's overall health and capacity for mission success. Currently, the Equity Strategies Checklist assessment consists of practices and policies that promote racial equity in their operations and programs (per the Equity Strategies checklist administered by Candid). As we refine our DEI assessment, Charity Navigator partners with DEI consultants and field experts to broaden and deepen this work.
Score
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
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The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
Empowering vulnerable neighbors with the help of a lawyer and the hope of Gods love
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
1,000 Gospel Justice Centers transforming lives in the name of Christ. A Gospel Justice Center is a
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: By Dec 2025, we aim to launch and sustain 300 Gospel Justice Centers based out of local churches who provide the help of a lawyer and the hope of God's love to members of their local community.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: By Dec 2023, we aim to have served over 3,900 clients at Gospel Justice Centers during the year.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Describe an investment in leadership
We created a new employee benefit in 2021 for Professional Development where staff work with their supervisor on charting out a path toward growing leadership in each employee’s respective area of influence. We invest time each quarter working with each staff member to provide feedback on organizational core values, individual/ team goals, and professional development progress for the quarter. These regular reviews provide a regular cadence for coaching on leadership development.
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?
Administer Justice targets likeminded local market organizations to partner in expanding Gospel Justice Centers. One example is our partnership with Together Chicago which has resulted in the launching of 15 Gospel Justice Centers in the Chicagoland area over the past three years. In July 2021, we launched a national attorney recruiting campaign via email and social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) to invite attorneys to get involved in serving under resourced individuals' ability to access civil legal aid advice.
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
In the last year during Covid-19, our Gospel Justice Center chapters had moved from providing only in-person service to clients to being completely virtual. We now have some centers operating virtually while others have returned to in person. Our staff was also completely remote for part of the year and has now returned to a hybrid format. We implemented a number of changes that made this possible: 1) Shifted from paper workflows to paperless; 2) Invited an IT Assessment to evaluate our level of security, infrastructure, and strategic planning; 3) Shifted from no IT vendor to securing and advancing our IT roadmap and security with a vendor; 4) Shifted from freeware to secure applications, such as Microsoft Office and Acuity Scheduling; 5) Eliminated handling of cash at centers in lieu of electronic payment; 6) Shifted from in-person training for our volunteers to live virtual training sessions to fully and professionally developed on-demand training to enable scalable volunteer growth. Not only were these changes necessary operationally to adapt to the changing environment, but we also see them as a growth enabler. For example, many communities are legal deserts and don't have an attorney in their community. Now that we have built the infrastructure and process to accommodate virtual involvement at our centers in the past year, an attorney in the same state can virtually join an in-person center (volunteers and clients are on-site) to provide the help of a lawyer to a vulnerable neighbor in need.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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