Texas Legal Services Center INC
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 742220750
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Phone
- 5124776000
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Human Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,684,620
- Expenses
- $9,612,923
- Assets
- $8,368,046
- Liabilities
- $6,476,456
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Karen Miller (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Karen Miller (Executive Director): $222,943 total reported compensation
- Kevin Dietz (Deputy Director): $168,776 total reported compensation
- Roger Crume (Managing Attorney): $166,207 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Texas Legal Services Center is a nonprofit legal aid organization whose mission is to serve the undeserved by making civil justice accessible to every Texan--no matter their ability to earn. We're a coalition of attorneys, paralegals, pro bono attorneys, partner organizations, and a team of support staff, working tirelessly to serve everyone who reaches out to us for help. Through advice, referrals, counseling, representation, and advocacy -- we help Texans navigate the complexities of the civil justice system.
What it reported doing in 2024
Texas Legal Services Center delivers legal aid services to vulnerable Texans, statewide, through different programs that serve crime victims, families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. We offer traditional legal representation in many cases and leverage technology to provide robust access to legal advice and information to Texans through telephone hotlines and website chat services.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 92% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.2%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 92.9%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $29.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.77; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.7%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 92.2% of revenue deployed · 92.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $223K · 21 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $470K reported
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- 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: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.