Neighborhood Legal Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
510198935
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone
7168470650
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,485,971
Expenses
$16,201,522
Assets
$7,665,041
Liabilities
$5,053,134

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KERISHA HAWTHORNE-GREER (PRESIDENT (STARTING JUNE 2025))
  • JONATHAN LACEY (VICE PRESIDENT (STARTING JUNE 2025))
  • MICHAELLE SCHWACH (PRESIDENT (TO JUNE 2025))
  • LAUREN E BREEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (TO AUGUST 2025))
  • WILLIAM O'CONNELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (STARTING AUGUST 2025))

Highest reported compensation

  • MELISSA MENDOLERA (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $211,158 total reported compensation
  • LAUREN E BREEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (TO AUGUST 2025)): $203,820 total reported compensation
  • KEISHA WILLIAMS (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $196,279 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Neighborhood legal services, inc. (nls) seeks equitable justice by providing access to legal advice, representation, and education to those in our communities who, due to financial vulnerability, disability, discrimination, or abuse, require assistance and protection of their civil legal rights. Serving erie, niagara, genesee, Wyoming, and orleans counties, nls aims to create the greatest access to the justice system for low-income individuals and those living with disabilities to pursue goals that will increase both the stability and the quality of their lives.

What it reported doing in 2025

Neighborhood legal services, inc. (nls), as measured by program expenses, delivered its largest service impact through its housing program, providing legal representation, advocacy, and eviction prevention services to individuals and families facing eviction, homelessness, unsafe housing conditions, and housing discrimination across erie, niagara, genesee, Wyoming, and orleans counties. Since october 2021, nls has supported the western New York eviction prevention project through New York state office of temporary and disability assistance (otda) emergency rental assistance program (erap) legal assistance funds. The project, in partnership with other civil legal services agencies, closed 22,811 eviction matters to date, with 42% handled by nls. In addition, 12,226 evictions were prevented and 3,917 were delayed, helping households secure stable housing and avoid homelessness.nls also provided civil legal services to vulnerable populations facing disability-related barriers, poverty, denial of public benefits, unsafe housing, and family law issues, including domestic violence. Through its public benefits and its medical-legal partnerships and related initiatives, nls assisted individuals and families in accessing snap, medicaid, ssi/ssdi, and emergency assistance, as well as addressing other health-related legal needs. In its family law practice, nls provided trauma-informed representation in matters involving orders of protection, custody, child support, and divorce.across all program areas, nls delivered integrated legal services and community-based advocacy through court-based, outreach, and mobile legal service models to expand access to justice and improve housing stability, economic security, and quality of life for low-income individuals and people living with disabilities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.6%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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; 64th 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: 1.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.6% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $211K · 31 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 10 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.