Kansas Legal Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
480872528
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Topeka, KS, USA
Phone
7852332068
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,707,150
Expenses
$11,756,695
Assets
$5,590,765
Liabilities
$3,254,106

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

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MOLLY WOOD (PRESIDENT)
  • KAREN HANNEMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MATTHEW KEENAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW KEENAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $216,033 total reported compensation
  • MISTY PALMER (CFO (BEG 5/25)): $144,897 total reported compensation
  • TY WHEELER (MANAGING ATTORNEY): $134,677 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Kansas legal services is devoted to helping low income kansans meet their basic needs through the provision of important legal and mediation services.

What it reported doing in 2025

Legal advice and representation to economically disadvantaged persons in public benefits and disability law, family law, farm law, elder law, alternative dispute resolution, and consumer and housing issues

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 82% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.3%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $400.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.3% of revenue deployed · 68.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $8.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 29 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.