Legal Counsel for Youth and Children

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273006526
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2064940323
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,659,395
Expenses
$3,095,612
Assets
$6,924,774
Liabilities
$17,509

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rhea Yo (Executive Director, LCYC President)
  • Erin Lovell (Former Executive Director)
  • Brandi McNeil (Board Chair, LCYC Vice President & Secretary)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rhea Yo (Executive Director, LCYC President): $138,241 total reported compensation
  • Emily Meltzer (Director of Development and Communications): $128,646 total reported compensation
  • Alexandra Narvaez (Supervising Attorney): $122,140 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Legal Counsel for Youth and Children (LCYC) protects the interests and safety of youth in Washington by advancing their legal rights. We accomplish our mission through direct legal representation, strong community partnerships, and systemic advocacy. Our focus areas include: child welfare, juvenile court, immigrant youth and families, and youth homelessness. In 2023, LCYC served roughly 800 young people across 19 counties. The majority of youth served by LCYC are between 12 - 24 years in age. Due to historic exclusion and other forms of oppression, youth of color and LGBTQIA+ youth are overrepresented in the systems we work across and among the youth we serve. LCYC empowers youth by helping them understand and engage in complex legal systems, influencing court decisions that will impact their lives and their families forever. LCYC also engages in systemic advocacy, which is informed by our direct representation, community partners, and youth.

What it reported doing in 2024

SYSTEMIC ADVOCACY. LCYC is uniquely situated to provide input on system-wide issues impacting young people because of our exclusive focus on children, youth, and young adults' rights and legal interests across multiple systems. Through our direct services work, young people and attorneys may identify systemic gaps and barriers through direct representation that can be elevated and addressed on a broader level for greater impact. We elevate systemic issues, in partnership with organizations led by youth, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ people, to create changes in administrative policy, court processes and procedures, and state law. Staff with specific subject matter expertise inform our systemic advocacy priorities and strategy. LCYC adds our unique legal services lens to advocacy efforts through the following tools: * Coalition work: partnering with community-based organizations-including those whose advocacy is driven by youth advocates with lived expertise-to identify systemic issues impacting young people *State and local legislative advocacy: reviewing bill language & providing technical assistance on draft bills, sending letters & emails to bill sponsors & committee members, testifying in public hearings, drafting & signing-on to advocacy letters, & engaging in legislative implementation work, * Administrative advocacy: hold public agencies accountable for implementation rooted in best-practices and ensure policies & practices appropriately meet the needs of young people, and * Appellate advocacy: Drafting and joining briefs in appellate courts, primarily as amicus.

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 97% 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. Reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.4%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th 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: 92%; rating input score 92; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: 15.4%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.24; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.4%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 23.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 35.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.4% of revenue deployed · 80% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $2.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 15 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 45 of 46 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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 — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.