Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE
ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE (Illinois) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,972,805 to it, the largest being LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS ($9,063,634). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $3.1M
What Illinois Legal Aid Online does
Mission
Illinois Legal Aid Online (ilao) opens opportunities for justice by educating illinoisans about their rights and connecting them to lawyers, solutions, and each other, especially people for whom the legal system was not designed. Through innovation and allyship, we make the law actionable and accessible. In the u.s., people facing civil legal challenges, such as eviction, debt, domestic abuse, and child support, do not have a right to a lawyer. Justice is scarce for those who need it most. We believe that, with the right knowledge and guidance, people can be their own best advocates. We mobilize people with plain-language, 24/7 tools and services - in two languages - so people can understand and assert their legal rights. Ilao helps people who are unable to find or afford lawyers open opportunities for justice. Since its inception in 2001, ilao has used technology and partnerships to lower barriers to the law so that people facing barriers to justice can understand their options, make
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To people lying awake at night, with nowhere to turn except their mobile, ilao offers a light in the night. Over half of those we serve come from their mobile phones, and between 5pm-9am or on weekends, when traditional legal offices are closed. Ilao partners with illinoisans facing injustices by providing 24/7 free, accessible, plain-language legal tools and direction, including plain-language self-help guides, interactive legal forms, triage and eligibility screening for free legal aid services, and know-your-rights education. In fy25, 2 million illinoisansapproximately 15% of the states population sought illinoislegalaid.org for guidance and help with over 600 legal issues, such as eviction, food insecurity, domestic abuse, criminal records, divorce, child support, deportation, discrimination, and debt. Our highest volume of services relates to family law, where people without lawyers most commonly encounter our complex legal system, and where they are least likely to find a legal aid lawyer to assist them. In addition to its library of civil legal education and solutions, ilao provides other important services. First, interactive apps called easy forms, similar to turbotax,…
$1,696,666 spent67% of program spendingSecond, ilaos community engagement extends and deepens the reach of its digital tools through partnerships with public libraries, workforce agencies, domestic violence victim advocates, legal aid, and human services. Ilao operates community-based navigator programs in spanish- speaking and incarceration-impacted neighborhoods in elgin, aurora, west chicago, east st. Louis, decatur, and champaign-urbana. Navigators are local grassroots leaders who are trained to educate their communities about their legal rights. In fy25, ilao trained 45 navigators and educated 5,071 illinoisans (an 18% increase over fy24).
$524,474 spent21% of program spendingDebt help illinois is a newly released, free, interactive service that diagnoses a persons debt problems, tailors a plan to their specific facts and location, and connects them to human assistance when needed. Consumers facing debt challenges start by answering questions that guide them to personalized options for their debt problem. A structured knowledge base (glossary, court locations, and creditor list), combined with an ai- authoring tool, generates plain-language information and action steps tailored to the users debt profile and location. Debt help illinois goes beyond a static website by guiding consumers through the next steps, taking into account their specific situation, tracking their progress, and connecting them to helpful resourcesso they move from confusion to concrete action.
$306,904 spent12% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,528,044.
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 $1.7M to $2.9M (+69%).
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: 2021 8% · 2023 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE’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. 3 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.
Board chair
Renee Mcmahon
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $1.0M → $1.4M.
7 of 31 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.
From the IRS filings of ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 funders by total. 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
ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 74% · 2019 80% · 2020 76% · 2021 61% · 2022 74% · 2023 77% — 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 ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
99% of ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $142k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 852 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 852 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE: 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 ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE?
- ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE (Illinois) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,972,805 to it, the largest being LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS ($9,063,634). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $11,972,805 in grants to ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE?
- LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS is the largest funder on record, with $9,063,634 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Illinois Legal Aid Online →
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 31 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