Forthright Legal

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472784318
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Charlottesville, VA, USA
Phone
4342601329
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$102,740
Expenses
$64,891
Assets
$230,427
Liabilities
$106,374

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Matthew Crane (Vice President)
  • Doug Ford (President)

People named in this filing

  • Doug Ford (Managing Attorney)
  • Kacy Burnsed (Treasurer)
  • Matthew Crane (Vice President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Community legal education, free legal consultations and legal representation of low-income people

What it reported doing in 2024

#28:100 % of our legal representation clients are Legal Aid eligible but neither Legal Aid nor another agency in our area offers free or low-cost representation in the cases we take. Most of our clients are referred by social service agencies such as local government DSS (Dept of Social Services), domestic violence shelters, immigration support groups and trauma therapists: $58402 expenses. #29 Collaborate and educate local social service agencies and staff on complexities of immigration, especially with all the changes with this Administration, and options for their clients: $3115 expenses; #30 Free legal consultations to clients of various other agencies and other referrals: $3374 expenses.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.2%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36.8%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.55; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -9.7% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4.6% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.2% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $65K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.