Denton County Lawyers Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821542777
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Denton, TX, USA
Phone
9402432021
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$284,013
Expenses
$201,055
Assets
$1,737,277
Liabilities
$1,438,540

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Vicki Isaacks (President)

People named in this filing

  • Vicki Isaacks (President)
  • Amie Peace (Secretary)
  • David Bouschor II (Treasurer)

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

Denton County Lawyers Foundation is dedicated to the support, promotion, and encouragement of activities that further justice, access to justice and legal education. These activities are planned to include, but are not limited to, publishing a monthly Legal Education Bulletin online for public access; hosting an attorney blog forum for public access; providing a free attorney referral service to the public; furnishing space for a court ordered parent-child visitation center for low income parents who are only allowed supervised access to their children, Continued Legal Education relevant to access to justice, and the assumption of pro bono activities which are currently performed by the Denton County Bar Assocation: an annual Adoption Day (providing pro-bono adoptions for low income foster families); a Veterans Legal Clinic (providing legal advice to low income veterans), and the Pro Se Divorce Clinic (providing legal advice and support to low net worth couples who are divorcing). The

What it reported doing in 2024

Leased office space to the Denton County Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (a 501(c)(3) public charity) and the Denton County Bar Association (a 501(c)(6) organization) pursuant to the organization's mission. During 2024, significant improvements to the building were completed and court ordered parent-child visitations began in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.2%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: 29.2%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.64; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.83; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 123.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 44% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 48.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.2% of revenue deployed · 83.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $168K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.