Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Overview

Mission

To provide free and comprehensive civil legal services to protect rights and promote equal justice for community members.

What it reported doing in 2025

Lshv serves low-income residents of the hudson valley, from young children to seniors. Approxiamately 80% of the cases are brought by clients who are at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines (64,300 for a family of four in 2025) or are of a vulnerable population. Additionally, lshv provided 1,619,928 in rental and financial assistance to 309 households/clients. In total for 2025, lshv handled just over 12,000 cases impacting over 27,700 household members throughout the seven-county service area. Our vision is to help create a society where all individuals have equal access to justice.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
136265606
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Headquarters
White Plains, NY, US
Phone
1-877-574-8529
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 85.9%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $60.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th 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: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 1%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 85.4% of revenue deployed · 85.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $35.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 41 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $964K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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.

Leadership & pay

41 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • RACHEL HALPERIN (CEO): $307,967 total reported compensation
  • MYRA LOEWENSTEIN (CFO): $279,397 total reported compensation
  • JILL BRADSHAW SOTO (CHIEF PROG O): $246,507 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2025.