Learning Rights Law Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 830434929
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 2134894030
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Disabled Persons' Rights
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,601,761
- Expenses
- $2,319,261
- Assets
- $3,037,067
- Liabilities
- $986,351
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RANDI SUNSHINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- RANDI SUNSHINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $154,388 total reported compensation
- HEATHER ZAKSON (LEGAL DIRECTOR): $130,554 total reported compensation
- STEVEN CATRON (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $112,065 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Provide free legal representation, advocacy, and training to ensure students with disabilities or who experience discrimination receive equal access to a public education.
What it reported doing in 2024
The education advocacy program provides legal representation to families whose children have been denied an equitable education. The program utilizes parental self-advocacy or direct advocacy to secure educational equity for students. The program's education rights clinic provides brief legal advice and resources to families, which they use to self-advocate for special education services for their students. If parental self-advocacy is unsuccessful, the program provides direct legal advocacy to ensure that students receive services in accordance with their civil rights to an appropriate education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.9%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.6%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $154K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.