Student Legal Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311682787
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Perrysburg, OH, USA
Phone
4193497858
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,054,153
Expenses
$3,005,470
Assets
$9,025,970
Liabilities
$237,431

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rodney Fleming (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Molly Hegarty (Managing Director): $162,048 total reported compensation
  • Paul Wilkins (Attorney): $135,000 total reported compensation
  • Frank Kremer Jr (Attorney): $126,846 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Student Legal Services Inc. provides legal advice education representation and referral services to university students in an efficient and high quality manner in order to promote student welfare and success. By helping higher education institutions attract retain and graduate students prepared with a greater understanding of their rights and responsibilities Student Legal Services Inc. contributes to the greater good of society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Student Legal Services provided preventative legal education to population of undergraduate graduate and professional students at the Columbus Ohio campus of The Ohio State University approximately 60,000 students. Legal workshops written and electronic legal information law-related presentations and other similar outreach programming was provided at approx. 120 events throughout the academic calendar. Legal information was primarily centered on assisting students regarding their legal rights and responsibilities in the areas of misdemeanor crimes landlord-tenant dispute resolution and consumer protection. Individual one to one counsel and representation was provided to 5,023 students on specific legal matters related to the individualized student need. Students were provided access to highly qualified experienced and properly licensed attorneys throughout the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 59
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.5%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 91.9%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.6%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.5% of revenue deployed · 91.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.