Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
620800756
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Clarksville, TN, US
Phone
931-552-6656
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,110,563
Expenses
$13,738,251
Assets
$12,624,670
Liabilities
$3,858,461

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ERIN PALMER POLLY (SECOND VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SUSAN L KAY (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • WALTER H STUBBS (PRESIDENT)
  • DAVID A WEIL (FIRST VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DARKENYA WALLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DARKENYA WALLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $184,996 total reported compensation
  • DAVID KOZLOWSKI (DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY): $143,089 total reported compensation
  • ZACHARY OSWALD (DEP. DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES): $126,321 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 enforce, advance and defend the legal rights of low income and vulnerable people in order to obtain for them the basic necessities of life.

What it reported doing in 2024

The legal aid society gives free legal aid to people who have nowhere else to turn. It provides direct legal assistance, self-help brochures and advice to individual clients and legal education to groups and the public. Its fundamental mission is to provide safety and stability to families and children. It helps them by preventing and ending domestic violence; obtaining income (from public benefits such as social security, food stamps and welfare and employment compensation); resolving income tax disputes; obtaining health insurance and health services; resolving consumer disputes; gaining and protecting housing, and assuring appropriate education and other services for children. In 2024, legal aid handled 7,143 cases. Volunteer attorneys working through legal aid society volunteer lawyers program handled an additional 1,191 cases. An additional 59 cases were handled through our contract attorney program (cap). Donated legal services for 2024 total $1,210,688.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% 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.
  • 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.6%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $62.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.1%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.92; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 75.6% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $185K · 30 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $130K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 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: 7 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.