Illinois · Nonprofit
Law Center for Better Housing
Law Center for Better Housing (Illinois) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,731,239 to it, the largest being LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS ($4,326,606). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $3.4M
What Law Center for Better Housing does
Mission
To promote the rights of renters to safe, accessible, and affordable housing on a non-discriminatory basis through education, outreach, supportive services, advocacy, and legal representation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Tenants Advocacy Program provides a trusted advocate for renters in and out of court, and incorporates all of the services LCBH provides directly for tenants as a continuum of services and care.*Legal representation for eviction defense*Legal representation for renters living in foreclosed buildings *Representation without litigation-legal counsel and negotiations outside of court*Pro Bono support-LCBH volunteer and intern program to increase direct service capacity*Foreclosure Counseling-assistance to renters who are living or believe they are living in a foreclosed building*Supportive Services to help LCBH clients most vulnerable to homelessness achieve housing stability*Brief services and Pro Se help-assistance with renter self-representation*Resource information provided by chatbot at rentervention.com
$4,618,903 spent$33,186 earned by the program97% of program spendingAffordable Housing Preservation (AHPP) helps preserve vitality and affordability in Chicago's neighborhoods through legal services that assist renters and community-based organizations in their efforts to improve poor living conditions and keep buildings occupied when they are at risk of being vacated due to unsafe conditions, changes in ownership, or court action such as foreclosure. *Legal representation and advocacy that saves affordable housing units*Tenant organizing to improve building conditions*Coordinated collaboration with community-based partners
$75,692 spent2% of program spendingEducation, Outreach and Public Policy Program provides outreach and education to empower various stakeholders with the knowledge they need to advocate for themselves or on behalf of renters. Public policy efforts are collaborations with a variety of stakeholders on issues ranging from equal justice in the courtroom, efforts to reduce homelessness, and efforts that preserve or increase affordable housing in Chicago. *Tenant education and outreach efforts to assist renters living in large buildings*Legal advocates training*Community advocates training*Fair Housing Education*Collaborations on policy efforts to affect systemic change
$75,692 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,770,287.
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 2022 to 2023, from $2.7M to $4.3M (+58%).
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 29% · 2018 20% · 2019 30% · 2020 44% · 2021 54% · 2022 60% · 2023 62% · 2024 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Law Center for Better Housing’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Mark Swartz
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $708k → $2.2M.
6 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 Law Center for Better Housing’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
Law Center for Better Housing leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 Law Center for Better Housing.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 45% · 2019 74% · 2020 43% · 2021 24% · 2022 30% · 2023 29% — 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
59% of Law Center for Better Housing'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
98% of Law Center for Better Housing's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Law Center for Better Housing has grown faster than three-quarters 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
Organizations like Law Center for Better Housing
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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 Law Center for Better Housing: 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 Law Center for Better Housing?
- Law Center for Better Housing (Illinois) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,731,239 to it, the largest being LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS ($4,326,606). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Law Center for Better Housing have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $11,731,239 in grants to Law Center for Better Housing, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Law Center for Better Housing?
- LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS is the largest funder on record, with $4,326,606 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Law Center for Better Housing 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 Law Center for Better Housing →
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 36 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