Queens Defenders
Legal name: Queens Law Associates Not-for-profit Corporation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 270364845
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2011
- Location
- Jamaica, NY, USA
- Phone
- 1-844-783-3673
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Legal Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $31,923,239
- Expenses
- $32,280,009
- Assets
- $34,191,245
- Liabilities
- $19,047,183
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ANTHONY J MARTONE (E.D. & CEO (FROM 06/10/2025))
- LORI ZENO (E.D. & CEO (UNTIL 06/10/2025))
Highest reported compensation
- LORI ZENO (E.D. & CEO (UNTIL 06/10/2025)): $583,908 total reported compensation
- ANTHONY LICARI (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY): $459,092 total reported compensation
- ANTHONY J MARTONE (E.D. & CEO (FROM 06/10/2025)): $385,368 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Queens Defenders fights for justice every day for every client, providing legal services including criminal defense, anti-eviction representation, immigration, and social work to the Queens community.
What it reported doing in 2024
Youth program service: in 2013 the agency launched youth diversion programs to help young people develop critical life skills, improve emotional and physical health, and enhance educational and professional opportunities to build successful lives. Our youth and community outreach programs include youth justice court, youth mentoring program, after school activities at the rockaways & jamaica justice centers, and domestic violence and empowerment program ("dove") for domestic violence survivors and their family members. Queens defenders food pantry launched in the spring of 2020 in response to the covid-19 pandemic, queens defenders distributes over 25,000 boxes of food annually to residents of the rockaways and other southeast queens communities. Since the establishment of our food pantry in 2020, queens defenders has provided healthy and fresh food to over 140,000 individuals and families throughout the borough. In addition to our on-site food pantry and deliveries, queens defenders holds "pop-up" food pantry and special holiday events events. We are committed to continuing this program and ensuring our borough's most vulnerable residents and families have access to nutritious food and essential household items.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 97% 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 - 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: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th 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: -1.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.56; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 86% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $27.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $584K · 18 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.5M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 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.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 1/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.