Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation In

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
581364400
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
4045210790
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,589,048
Expenses
$7,699,743
Assets
$2,555,402
Liabilities
$583,581

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAWRENCE BRACKEN II (PRESIDENT)
  • ANDRIA PEREZ (IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT)
  • PAUL J MURPHY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL LUCAS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL LUCAS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $216,348 total reported compensation
  • JUAN FIGUEROA (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $182,415 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH ROTHER (DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR): $143,954 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To create safe and stable homes and families by inspiring the fight for equal justice.

What it reported doing in 2024

Safe and stable families project - the safe & stable families project is devoted to helping survivors of intimate partner abuse achieve safety and stability. Through zoom family law and protective order hearings, mobile advocacy efforts, virtual social work services, and more. The safe & stable families team and their volunteers continued to provide uninterrupted support to atlanta survivors throughout the covid-19 crisis. Safe and stable homes project - our staff and volunteers prevent evictions, provide financial advice and help tenants navigate an often inscrutable justice system. Our safe & stable homes project continued its pivot to serve our community, transitioning all saturday lawyer clinics and trainings to remote service, expanding our housing court assistance center (hcac), and virtually recruiting more volunteer attorneys. Community supprt & prevention - the number of atlantans who need emergency financial assistance grew exponentially during the pandemic. Additionally, atlanta's historic affordable housing crisis and eviction epidemic meant that families needed immediate access to emergency financial support to keep them safe in their homes. Our community assistance team continued to provide covid-related emergency financial assistance and worked to administer a variety of assistance programs as the availability of and requirements around various sources of assistance changed in a dynamic environment. Healing through legal advocacy - medical legal partnership plus (mlp+) is an innovative new program connecting healthcare with legal and social services to address the root causes of health and housing instability, providing wraparound support for low-income individuals, intimate partner abuse survivors, and those with chronic health issues. By linking legal advocacy directly with the healthcare ecosystem, mlp+ treats housing and safety not just as legal crises, but as critical social determinants of health.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 74% 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

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: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 75.8%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • 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: -37.8%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 37 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.