Michigan Children's Law Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383103956
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hamtramck, MI, USA
Phone
3138336515
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$764,629
Expenses
$854,474
Assets
$608,210
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAWN WILSON (PRESIDENT)
  • ELEANOR RABIOR (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • LYNDA MCGHEE (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELEANOR RABIOR (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $121,750 total reported compensation
  • LYNDA MCGHEE (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $120,750 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Advocating for the safety and well-being of children in the detroit metropolitan area.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, mclc coordinated the following programs: represented children in juvenile justice, child protection and child custody cases within 3rd circuit court family division juvenile section.helped the wayne county circuit court improve aging out programs and education advocacy program (both of which Michigan children's law center started and the court system incorporated into the 3rd circuit judicial court family division juvenile section).continued our mentoring and me program and successfully connected two young men and one young woman with mentors.hosted webinars focused on how investigators can assist with youth representation, understanding juvenile mental health court, basic education advocacy for justice involved children, building a village of support for justice involve youth, accessing community services for youth, basic case information research, and general youth advocacy training webinars for attorneys within 3rd circuit court.presented at national association of public defenders, national association of children's counsel and Michigan's governor's task force on neglect and abuse.engaged in new collaborations with big family of Michigan, house of kadence, fight the good fight, and love one another to assist with community resources for clients and families.continued building relationships with park west foundation, shorewood kiwanis club, and lakeshore optimist club.engaged in meaningful legal and community education opportunities through children's law section, detroit bar association, oakland county bar association juvenile committee and women's lawyers association of Michigan.served on children's committees to enhance advocacy, including but not limited to, the state of Michigan juvenile justice partnership and legislative committee (cls).hosted annual back to school event.created chess club for children in care as well as grandparents supporting grandchildren.created shoes for school program to provide gym shoes for children. Hosted hygiene support drive to assist older children coming into foster care.assisted older foster children with essential needs.hosted entrepreneurs for a cause event, grandparents supporting grandchildren day, reading month literacy event, mlk i have a dream vision board party.hosted annual adopt a child for christmas program servicing 10 children in foster care and 2 children in juvenile justice related cases.made presentation to attorneys who practice in adult criminal court to share insights about children who find themselves there later in life.trained one law school intern and one undergraduate student in pre-law.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 63.2%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -11.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -17.9% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -15.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.6% of revenue deployed · 63.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $540K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $122K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.