New York · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC
CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC (New York) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,292,589 to it, the largest being NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC ($1,820,701). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $8.6M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $3.5M
What Center for Elder Law & Justice Inc does
Mission
To improve the quality of life for elderly, disabled and low-income persons in the western new york area through the provision of free civil legal services. The primary goal is to use the legal system to assure that clients may live independently and with dignity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
See schedule o:celj advocates for older adults, disabled persons and low incomeindividuals in western new york. Since 1978, celj has served clientsthrough direct services, legal workshops and clinics, pro bonoactivities and community education events. The agency is divided intotwo departments: civil legal services and guardian and trusteeservices. In 2024, we had 8,001 total cases open at any time, serving13,993 people (using total household size). We hosted 236 outreacheswith 15,604 attendees. Our services saved taxpayers across new yorkstate an estimated $5,712,470 and we helped our clients recover or savean estimated $5,536,234.in addition to our program revenue, we manage a pooled supplemental needs trust. The western new york coalition trust has $15,274,744 under fiscal management providing trustee services to 803 beneficiariesfinally, we are court appointed guardians for 85 people managing an additional $9,794,582 in assets
$6,787,600 spent$1,070,699 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,787,600.
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 2021 to 2022, from $3.7M to $5.1M (+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 82% · 2018 82% · 2019 78% · 2020 84% · 2021 82% · 2022 73% · 2023 73% · 2024 75%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 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
Karen Nicolson
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $32k → $975k.
3 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE 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
CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
78% 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 CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 77% · 2019 41% · 2020 26% · 2021 46% · 2022 44% · 2023 54% — 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.
How long its funders stay
57% of CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
92% of CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE 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. $253k 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
CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC has grown faster than half of the 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.7M on record.
- Department of Justice$900k
- Department of Health and Human Services$777k
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 CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE 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
81% 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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE 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 CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC?
- CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC (New York) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,292,589 to it, the largest being NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC ($1,820,701). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $4,292,589 in grants to CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE INC?
- NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,820,701 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR ELDER LAW & JUSTICE 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.
Play a game about who funds Center for Elder Law & Justice →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 24 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