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Texas · Nonprofit

HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC

HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC (Texas) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,885,882 to it, the largest being LONE STAR LEGAL AID ($1,510,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.5M
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$4.9M
Net assets
$3.7M
8/17 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program Inc does

Mission

To promote access to justice for individuals in the houston area by assisting those who cannot afford legal representation in civil matters.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Hvl provides free legal services to low-income individuals in the greater houston area who are facing civil legal problems (e.g., family law, probate, landlord/tenant) serving diverse populations (e.g., u.s. Veterans, immigrant communities, etc.) hvl has a screening process for extended representation services through which applicants are connected with a pro bono lawyer in private practice for the life of their legal problem. Hvlp placed an estimated 1,126 client matters with pro bono attorneys for legal representation during 2025. In addition, in 2025, hvl provided on-on-one legal advice or brief services to an estimated 4,773 clients delivering legal advice and brief services to these individuals. Overall, in 2025 volunteer attorneys donated pro bono services with an estimated value of $20,795,096.

    $2,897,355 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,897,355.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.8M) Expenses 100 ($2.5M) Net assets 100 ($1.3M)2018 Revenue 226 ($4.1M) Expenses 134 ($3.4M) Net assets 152 ($2.0M)2019 Revenue 196 ($3.6M) Expenses 137 ($3.5M) Net assets 160 ($2.1M)2020 Revenue 170 ($3.1M) Expenses 121 ($3.1M) Net assets 162 ($2.2M)2021 Revenue 164 ($3.0M) Expenses 115 ($2.9M) Net assets 167 ($2.2M)2022 Revenue 189 ($3.5M) Expenses 120 ($3.0M) Net assets 197 ($2.6M)2023 Revenue 192 ($3.5M) Expenses 130 ($3.3M) Net assets 212 ($2.8M)2024 Revenue 242 ($4.4M) Expenses 138 ($3.5M) Net assets 280 ($3.7M)2025 Revenue 194 ($3.5M) Expenses 135 ($3.4M) Net assets 280 ($3.7M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (194)Expenses (135)Net assets (280)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $1.9M to $2.6M (+39%).

$1.9M
$2.6M
$2.7M
$3.0M
$3.1M
$3.4M
$3.4M
$4.1M
$4.7M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 34% · 2018 20% · 2019 26% · 2020 23% · 2021 4% · 2022 52% · 2023 56% · 2024 48% · 2025 43%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,394 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$718k
’17
$700k
’18
$100k
’19
$24k
’20
$69k
’21
$411k
’22
$190k
’23
$911k
’24
$104k
’25
11
months of
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

Jessica Hoowton

Executive director

Board chair

Robert Painter

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed302224252520272423
Joined·+4+6+11+10+4+9+5+4
No longer listed·12410109285
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $15k → $673k.

3 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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: $11M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Houston Bar Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC raised.

From the IRS filings of HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM 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

HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

82% 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 HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC.

31%
largest funder
67%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 64% · 2019 57% · 2020 48% · 2021 55% · 2022 39% · 2023 37% — 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

33% of HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

90% of HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC's grant income comes from Texas funders.

NY
CA
DC
OK
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Texas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $708k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 852 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin3% · below the median
Months of reserve10.9mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 852 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.

Federal$1.5M
grants $1.5Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Top agencies
  • Department of the Treasury$1.1M
  • Department of Veterans Affairs$384k

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 HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM 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 Texas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

84% of spending goes to programs.

Program 84%Management 15%Fundraising 1%

Governance

18
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 4 related entities

  • Houston Bar Association · exempt
  • Houston Bar Foundation · exempt
  • Houston Lawyer Referral Service · exempt
  • Houston Bar Assoc Alt Dispute Resol Ctr · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC?
HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC (Texas) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,885,882 to it, the largest being LONE STAR LEGAL AID ($1,510,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $4,885,882 in grants to HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC?
LONE STAR LEGAL AID is the largest funder on record, with $1,510,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HOUSTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program →

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 17 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing