New York · Nonprofit
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc (New York) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,783,723 to it, the largest being NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC ($2,263,060). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.3M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc does
Mission
Provide quality free civil legal services for low-income people and smaller not-for-profit groups and to effectively involve volunteers in the delivery of those services.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Organization provides legal services for low-income residents and nonprofit Organizations. In 2025, approximately 154 attorneys provided over 9,212 hours in volunteer time to assist clients in civil and other legal matters. Total clients assisted was around 6,689 and 7,172 cases were closed by staff and volunteers.
$7,056,844 spent$6,892 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,056,844.
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 $2.0M to $3.7M (+88%).
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 95% · 2018 96% · 2019 95% · 2020 94% · 2021 96% · 2022 96% · 2023 43% · 2024 49% · 2025 53%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc’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. 1 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
Gretchen Gonzalez
Executive Director/CEO/Dep
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $40k → $747k.
1 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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: $48k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Erie County Bar Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project 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
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 55% · 2019 64% · 2020 36% · 2021 64% · 2022 72% · 2023 79% — 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
50% of Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
100% of Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project 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. $33k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc has grown faster 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 Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.6M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$813k
- Department of Justice$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 Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project 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
98% 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 Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project 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 Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc?
- Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc (New York) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,783,723 to it, the largest being NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC ($2,263,060). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $3,783,723 in grants to Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project Inc?
- NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,263,060 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 9 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