California Association of Legal Document Assistants
Legal name: Calif Assoc of Legal Document Assistants
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943117301
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Granite Bay, CA, US
- Phone
- (916) 791-9100
- Rating
- 47
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $253,177
- Expenses
- $259,363
- Assets
- $228,320
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Robert Van Steen (Director & President)
- Jenni Barei (Director & Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Loretta Szudy (Director & Secretary)
- Helen Bellamy (Director)
- Colleen Marie (Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The California Association of Legal Document Assistants (CALDA) is a professional organization dedicated to supporting and regulating Legal Document Assistants (LDAs) in California. Its mission is to provide access to registered and bonded LDAs who offer a low-cost alternative to attorneys for preparing legal paperwork, ensuring expertise in form preparation and procedure across areas such as divorce, wills, deeds, and guardianship.
What it reported doing in 2024
CALDA had a remarkable year in 2024, marked with growth, professional development initiatives, and the return of meeting in person for our Annual Conference. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the law acknowledging LDAs as a California profession, we gathered over 120 LDAs, exhibitors, and speakers for a 3-day conference in San Diego. To keep our membership connected and informed, we also hosted over 70 virtual educational and networking events. Along with a push to provide CALDA branded literature to more county law libraries and courts, in 2024 we brought our message to related professional associations by participating in their annual conferences. Our membership finally passed the 500-member mark and new chapters were instituted in San Diego and Northern California.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Membership-supported. 63% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.4%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -150% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.