Maryland Legal Aid

Overview

Mission

We advocate with and for Marylanders experiencing poverty to achieve equity and social justice through free civil legal services, community collaboration, and systems change. Their brief, submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, comes in response to the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling that has potential life-threatening implications for survivors of domestic violence, their families, and the broader community. The amici curiae, or “friends of the court,” coalition comprises esteemed organizations like TAP that have made it their mission to provide vital civil legal services and advocacy to survivors of domestic violence. Collectively, these organizations work tirelessly to increase access to justice, especially for underrepresented and underserved communities. Through direct representation of survivors and support for those representing them, the amicus.

Operating model

Revenue model

Grant-funded. 92% 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

STRONG - 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: 90
• Transparency & Controls: 90
• Accountability: 100
• Sustainability: 32
• Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site
• Where the money goes: 91.6% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
• Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $22.4M in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 21 people listed
• Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
• Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
• Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
• Contacts: How to reach this organization
• Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
• Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
• 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
• Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.