New York · Nonprofit
BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC
BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC (New York) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,132,320 to it, the largest being ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION ($2,785,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $32M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $4.1M
- Net assets
- $894k
What Brooklyn Legal Services Inc does
Mission
Brooklyn legal services, inc is a not-for-profit corporation organized for the purpose of providing legal assistance to indigent persons in the new york city area in noncriminal proceedings or matters.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Housing assistance - we fight tenant harassment and preserve affordable housing, defend clients in nonpayment and other eviction proceedings as well as assist them in applying for asylum. We also help them pursue rent overcharge claims and actions to improve housing conditions; all of which keep them from becoming homeless.
$16,138,375 spentof which $191,250 as grants$13,575,427 earned by the program62% of program spendingOther - we represent people in other civil legal matters, such as consumer, immigration and employment matters. In the consumer area, we defend individuals being sued in debt collection cases and enforce people's right to fair debt collection. Our immigration practice focuses on adjustment of status, nationalization and green card replacements. In the employment arena, we help people get wages to which they are entitled and defend people's employment rights. We also help client groups assert their rights to habitable homes, decent schools and nondiscriminatory housing.
$4,787,138 spent$4,026,890 earned by the program18% of program spendingIncome maintenance - we help people access and retain government benefits. Through our income security and benefits work, we assist clients when government benefits are wrongfully denied, inaccurately calculated, or improperly terminated; and we represent families and individuals for whom unemployment insurance, food stamps, medicaid/medicare and other public assistance and safety net programs constitute critical lifelines.
$3,478,739 spent$2,926,279 earned by the program13% of program spendingFamily assistance - our family law practice preserves families wherever possible, while providing our clients and their children with legal and social services.we help: victims of domestic violence obtain orders of protection and other relief; clients prepare guardianships or adoptions for dependent children; clients obtain divorces, separation agreements, annulments, child custody and child support; parents or guardians in abuse and neglect cases and at termination of parental rights proceedings.
$1,610,965 spent$1,355,127 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $26,015,217.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2021 to 2022, from $5.1M to $32M (+529%).
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: 2019 17% · 2020 26% · 2021 25% · 2022 18% · 2023 22% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
25% of BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (95% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $502k → $593k.
From the IRS filings of BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC’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
BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
80% 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 BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 68% · 2019 60% · 2020 71% · 2021 68% · 2022 69% · 2023 73% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
How long its funders stay
42% of BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
97% of BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 254 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $7.3M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$3.3M
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.9M
- Department of the Treasury$1.4M
- Department of Veterans Affairs$800k
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 BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC
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 York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Legal Services NYC · exempt
- Lsny-Bronx Corporation · exempt
- Manhattan Legal Services · exempt
- Queens Legal Services Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC: 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 BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC?
- BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC (New York) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,132,320 to it, the largest being ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION ($2,785,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $4,132,320 in grants to BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC?
- ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,785,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BROOKLYN LEGAL SERVICES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 14 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