Cowlitz-wahkiakum County Legal Aid Program Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911945347
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Longview, WA, USA
Phone
3604252579
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$569,772
Expenses
$478,316
Assets
$444,367
Liabilities
$12,465

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lori Sarancik (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Eleanor Couto (Board President)
  • Robert Mumford (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Steve Madsen (Legal Director): $75,502 total reported compensation
  • Lori Sarancik (Chief Executive Officer): $68,671 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Cowlitz Wahkiakum Legal Aid seeks to assure justice for low income people in the civil courts. We provide access to legal help for people whose livelihood, family and wellness are threatened.

What it reported doing in 2024

A. Cowlitz Wahkiakum Legal Aid (CWLA) opened 599 new cases in 2024, and closed 498 cases with some form of service provided. b. Approximately 35% of closed cases were related to Housing, and approximately 50% of closed cases were related to Family Law. The remaining 15% of closed cases were related to elder law, guardianship, contracts and miscellaneous civil legal issues. Cowlitz Wahkiakum Legal Aid works only with Civil Law and not Criminal Law. c. The majority of our work takes place in short, confidential advice and counsel appointments, with some limited representations and a small number of full representations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.9%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 86.4%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $37.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.1%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.1%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.1% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.5% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.9% of revenue deployed · 86.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $413K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $76K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.