Florida Legal Services Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 591436126
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Newberry, FL, USA
- Phone
- 8503857900
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,518,758
- Expenses
- $6,495,079
- Assets
- $4,905,108
- Liabilities
- $1,104,601
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHAEL TEIN (PRESIDENT)
- J SAMANTHA VACCIANA (PAST PRESIDENT)
- CHRISTOPHER JONES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER JONES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $154,631 total reported compensation
- ROBERT K DWYER (EMPLOYEE): $127,955 total reported compensation
- SUZANNE EDMUNDS (EMPLOYEE): $126,145 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide and serve as a leader in the state of Florida, to encourage the provision of high quality legal services for the poor and provide support and assistance to all providers of legal assistance to the poor throughout the state.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide substantive law and skills training for staff of legal assistance to the poor providers, low-income residents of Florida, pro bono attorneys and other organizations and persons advocating for low-income residents of Florida. Provide legislative and admin advocacy on priority issues impacting the low-income residents of Florida. Provide representation to low-income clients in court and administrative proceedings on matters that have a significant impact on the wellbeing of the clients and other low-income residents of Florida.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.9%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 88.8%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.6%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.9%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.9% of revenue deployed · 88.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $155K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.