Children's Law Center of Minnesota

What it reported doing in 2025

Clc served 402 clients in 2025 and saw 119 cases to completion. Of these youth, 51% (204) are female, 49% (198) are male; 65% (263) of the cases are within ramsey county, 34% (138) are in hennepin county; 1% in Washington county. All clc clients are young people in foster care in mn, mostly between ages 10-21. Clc serves a high minority population, many of whom identify as more than one race. Specifically, 152 (38%) are black/african-american, 130 (32%) are two or more races, 30 (8%) are asian, 8 (2%) are hispanic-latino, 7 (2%) are native american but do not qualify for icwa, 19 (5%) are icwa eligible, and 56 (14%) are white. 74% of clients were members of a sibling group. Of the 402 cases 55% cases were assigned in house to staff attorneys and 45% of the cases were assigned to volunteer attorneys. 55% of clc clients who were eligible for high school graduation successfully completed their studies on time, with 7% of those students planning to enroll in college this fall. In contrast, 35% of senior clients were still striving to earn their diploma. While these figures reflect a decrease compared to our earlier graduation rates, they align with the overall decline in graduation rates observed statewide for foster students.in 2025, clc staff served on, or participate in, over 14 external committees and organizations including the mn supreme court council on child protection, children's justice initiative, statewide cji advisory committee, statewide cji mental health subcommittee, mifpa phase ii, children's justice act task force, hennepin and ramsey county children's justice initiative groups, mn rules of juvenile protection procedure committee, state board of appellate counsel and training, and the msba and aba children and law sections.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 75.3%; rating input score 75
• Program expense ratio: 67.9%; rating input score 68
• Fundraising efficiency: $6.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -9.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 13.2%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings