South Coastal Counties Legal Services

Legal name: South Coastal Counties Legal Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
043330208
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Brockton, MA, US
Phone
800-244-9023
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,370,921
Expenses
$13,796,266
Assets
$25,239,860
Liabilities
$2,774,887

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRISTOPHER OLDI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTOPHER OLDI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $244,943 total reported compensation
  • THOMAS KELLEY (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $170,155 total reported compensation
  • GAVIN BATES (PROGRAM MANAGER): $165,250 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Achieving justice for communities in Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and the Islands

What it reported doing in 2025

South coastal counties legal services (sccls) is a non-profit poverty law firm. With its subsidiary, the justice center of southeast Massachusetts, sccls is the primary provider of free, non-criminal civil legal services for low-income and indigent individuals, families, elders, and people with disabilities residing in southeastern Massachusetts, cape cod and the islands. Sccls works to reduce the unjust effects of poverty by ensuring clients and their families benefit from the fair application of laws. Priority service areas include: homelessness prevention and foreclosure avoidance; access to social safety-net programs; family law, where domestic violence is present; legal problems of elders; immigration issues; employment and consumer law matters; and education advocacy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $618.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15.7%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.83; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.6%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 10 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 76.7% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $12.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $245K · 22 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.