The Children's Law Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
113392591
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Phone
7185223333
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,997,427
Expenses
$10,952,626
Assets
$13,909,515
Liabilities
$14,265,239

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • HON Liberty Aldrich (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • Deana Tietjen (CO-DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • Laurie McPherson (President)
  • Hon Carol R Sherman (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • HON Liberty Aldrich (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $247,960 total reported compensation
  • Deana Tietjen (CO-DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $192,997 total reported compensation
  • Janet Neustaetter (DIR. OF APPEALS AND WRITING): $182,487 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide legal services to indigent children in contested custody/ visitation and related cases.

What it reported doing in 2024

The children's law center (clc) is an interdisciplinary legal service organization that provides legal representation at the trial and appellate level for childen involved in the New York family courts. Clc is focused on advocating for vulnerable children who are experiencing complex custody, domestic violence, mental health or other issues leading to family court involvement. Our dedicated social workers provide immediate assistance and referrals to promote child-wellbeing and reduce the impact of both family dissolution and court involvement. Clc enhances youth empowerment by providing zealous advocacy for childrens rights and promotes system reform through legislative and policy work. Clc launched the childrens voice project, the only youth board in New York dedicated to providing a voice for subject children in custody, visitation, guardianship and order of protection proceedings. Clc tracks weekly intake and case volume data. Each borough and jurist maintains a mixture of virtual, hybrid and in-person proceedings. In fy24-25, clc appeared on more than 8,000 intake petitons on behalf of more than 4700 children. Clc also filled more than 40 appeal briefs and secured outcomes that were consistent with our clients wishes in more than 75% of our cases.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 97% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $114.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: 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: 0.4%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.27; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.03; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.3%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.8% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $248K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.