New Hampshire · Nonprofit
603 LEGAL AID
603 LEGAL AID (New Hampshire) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,901,751 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($6,705,953). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $8.9M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What 603 Legal Aid does
Mission
To provide free quality civil legal services to people facing new hampshire legal issues through compassionate advocacy, education, and pro bono representation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
603 Legal Aid (603la) serves as new hampshire's (nh) entry point for civil legal services, providing critical legal assistance to low-income residents across the state. Funding comes from a combination of federal, state, foundation, cy pres, and individual sources. 603la serves diverse populations including survivors of domestic violence, tenants facing eviction, individuals navigating family law matters, low-income taxpayers in disputes with the irs, people seeking consumer debt relief, individuals needing name changes or criminal record annulments, and veterans with civil and va-specific legal needs. Key funders include the legal services corporation (lsc), the u.s. Department of veterans affairs (va), and the irs low-income taxpayer clinic (litc) program. (cont'd sch. O)additionally, the nh department of justice funds services for domestic violence victims through victims of crime act (voca) and violence against women act (vawa) awards. This includes 603la's renowned domestic violence emergency (dove) pro bono project which for 30 years has connected survivors to attorney volunteers for legal representation at final domestic violence and stalking protective order hearings.…
$1,831,817 spent79% of program spendingHope for heroes (hfh) provides a wide range of civil legal services to homeless veterans and those at-risk of homelessness. Staffed by a va-accredited attorney and paralegal, the program delivers trauma-informed services addressing the unique needs of veterans. Hfh has reached over 250 new hampshire veterans through legal information and outreach events and handled more than 175 legal cases ranging from family law disputes and eviction proceedings, to advocating for service-connected benefits and discharge upgrades for qualified veterans.
$232,014 spent10% of program spending603la's low-income taxpayer project (litp), supported by longstanding irs litc funding, provides in-house and pro bono representation to clients in disputes with the irs. The litp is housed within our new consumer unit, the first of its kind in nh, which assists individuals navigating debt and collection matters through an empowerment-driven representation model. This unit is funded by two cy pres awards from the national legal aid and defender association and the rose foundation.
$241,679 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,305,510.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $1.4M to $2.0M (+40%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 84% · 2018 84% · 2019 83% · 2020 81% · 2021 68% · 2022 86% · 2023 91% · 2024 69% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of 603 LEGAL AID’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Ariel Clemmer
Executive director
Board chair
Melinda Gehris
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $497k → $1.4M.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.4M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest New Hampshire Legal Assistance Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money 603 LEGAL AID raised.
From the IRS filings of 603 LEGAL AID’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
603 LEGAL AID leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund 603 LEGAL AID.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 97% · 2019 94% · 2020 96% · 2021 95% · 2022 71% · 2023 84% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
603 LEGAL AID draws 78% of its grant income from funders outside New Hampshire, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $170k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
603 LEGAL AID runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding 603 LEGAL AID receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $980k on record.
- Department of the Treasury$597k
- Department of Veterans Affairs$383k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like 603 LEGAL AID
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New Hampshire
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 603 LEGAL AID: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds 603 LEGAL AID?
- 603 LEGAL AID (New Hampshire) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,901,751 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($6,705,953). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does 603 LEGAL AID have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $8,901,751 in grants to 603 LEGAL AID, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of 603 LEGAL AID?
- LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,705,953 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like 603 LEGAL AID find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Hampshire. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 6 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing