Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521225979
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4105396800
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,024,696
- Expenses
- $4,616,740
- Assets
- $5,909,442
- Liabilities
- $2,489,206
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
29 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PENNY J MINNA (VICE-PRESIDENT)
- DAVID G SOMMER (PRESIDENT)
- SUSAN FRANCIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SUSAN FRANCIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $173,709 total reported compensation
- JANET FEDDER (MANAGING ATTORNEY, APGRB): $131,013 total reported compensation
- MARGARET HENN (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $122,851 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the Maryland volunteer lawyers service (mvls) is to remove barriers to justice through free civil legal help, community engagement, and advocacy for equitable laws. (see schedule o for the complete mission statement.)
What it reported doing in 2024
Housing stability is a core focus at mvls, with a particular emphasis on older adults to ensure they can age in place and successfully pass on their assets to their next generation the advanced planning project educates marylanders about the need to do estate planning so they can pass their most important asset, their home, to their family. This program combats generations of wealth extraction from communities of color, many of whom had not engaged in estate planning and had lost their homes to tax sale or foreclosure. The my home, my deed, my legacy project builds upon this work and provides pro bono legal services for estate planning and deed disentanglement to clients who were traditionally denied access to justice. In fy25, mvls handled 641 estates and deeds cases.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.7%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 84.6%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $15.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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: 8.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.28; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.7% of revenue deployed · 84.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $174K · 29 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.