Northern Nevada Legal Aid
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 886005362
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Reno, NV, United States
- Phone
- (775) 329-2727
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,305,157
- Expenses
- $4,774,406
- Assets
- $4,334,712
- Liabilities
- $668,821
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SARAH FERGUSON (PRESIDENT)
- AUSTIN SWEET (VICE PRESIDENT)
- DAVID SPITZER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- DAVID SPITZER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $138,585 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 skilled legal team at NNLA has delivered free and low cost legal services for the communities we serve across a variety of legal fields. No matter the situation, we treat all our clients with the dignity and respect they deserve. We’re here to offer counsel and help people in our community resolve legal problems by giving them a voice in legal proceedings. Our Mission, Vision, and Core Values Mission. Northern Nevada Legal Aid is a nonprofit legal aid organization serving qualified residents in Washoe County, and rural northern Nevada counties. Legal aid is free or low-cost advice, assistance, or representation in civil matters for those who could not otherwise afford an attorney. We provide legal aid with the goal to eliminate barriers to access the legal system for our society’s most vulnerable members, to protect their rights, keep them safe, and provide stability. Legal aid...
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, northern Nevada legal aid assisted over 19,301 individuals in legal matters. Nnla represented children in the custody of the state in washoe, douglas, lyon counties and carson city in many legal matters, including 1,004 in their underlying 432b (abuse and neglect) matters, and 25 in adoptions. Nnla represented 1,268 protected persons in adult guardianship cases and 158 in minor guardianship; nnla provided legal services to 3,037 individuals over 60 years of age through its senior legal center; nnla's victims of domestic violence unit assisted in 5 matters ranging from temporary protective order cases, child custody cases, extended protective order cases and divorce; nnla provided service to over 12,799 individuals in their self-help center.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 64% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 53
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 79.9%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- 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: 10%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 79.9% of revenue deployed · 88.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.