Community Lawyers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
550898050
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Compton, CA, USA
Phone
3106358181
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Crime, Legal Related N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$463,033
Expenses
$378,938
Assets
$212,613
Liabilities
$112,549

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Walter Quinteros (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rosa Hirji (Executive Dir.): $22,220 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Community Lawyers, Inc. provides underserved low- and no-income community members access to legal representation, pro-bono legal clinics, and community advocacy and engagement.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community Lawyers, Inc. (Organization) is a California not-for-profit corporation.The Organization was incorporation in May 2005. The Organization provides underserved and low and no-income community members access to legal representations, pro-bono legal clinics, and community advocacy and engagement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.2%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 93.1%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $38.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 26th 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.2%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.2% of revenue deployed · 93.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $353K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $22K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.