Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
430816805
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3145344200
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,004,689
Expenses
$15,467,100
Assets
$54,929,828
Liabilities
$4,160,778

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

Leadership & pay

45 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • T BENNETT BURKEMPER (DIRECTOR/PRESIDENT)
  • JEROME DOBSON (DIRECTOR/CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
  • PAULA FINLAY (DIRECTOR/CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DANIEL K GLAZIER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL K GLAZIER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $212,223 total reported compensation
  • JEANNE PHILIPS-ROTH (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICE): $171,889 total reported compensation
  • JOEL FERBER (DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY): $165,478 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Partnering to improve lives and promote fairness we achieved a 97% success rate helping those in legal need, mostly women with children and about 62% persons of color, overcome barriers to safety and stability and obtain $20.5m in monetary benefits.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education: children's future self-sufficiency depends on meeting their educational needs. We focus on providing legal assistance to those with special needs or facing unfair discipline. Utilizing a racial equity lens to help stop the school to prison pipeline, we helped 574 children/youth and their household members in completed cases. Our community legal education provides knowledge of educational law, the first step to seeking help. These education programs along with outreach, collaborations, and referrals to other resources, helped another 3,105 people. We expand the results of our legal advocacy by addressing systemic legal problems impacting community members related to education.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 62% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 66th 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: -10.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.55; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $12.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $212K · 45 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $172K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.