Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 610848948
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Prestonsburg, KY, USA
- Phone
- 6068863876
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,247,171
- Expenses
- $6,631,052
- Assets
- $6,662,613
- Liabilities
- $611,613
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Angeleigh Dorsey (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Angeleigh Dorsey (Executive Director): $184,570 total reported compensation
- Evan Smith (Advocacy Director): $159,453 total reported compensation
- Stephanie Flanary (Directing Attorney): $156,330 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote equal access to justice, to encourage self-sufficiency, to empower and to improve the lives of low income and other vulnerable people and families in eastern and south central Kentucky by providing them high quality legal assistance.
What it reported doing in 2025
During 2025, Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of KY, Inc. (AppalReD Legal Aid) handled 5,336 cases for low income and other vulnerable people and families. AppalReD Legal Aid primarily serves low-income individuals and families, with focused attention on vulnerable populations including older adults, survivors of domestic violence, individuals with disabilities, veterans, natural disaster survivors. and households facing housing or income instability. Nearly 240,000 people in our 37-county service area are below 125% of the federal poverty level, qualifying for our services.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.2%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $16.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd 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: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- 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: 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: -6.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.9%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 88.2% of revenue deployed · 82.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $185K · 22 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.