Wisconsin · Nonprofit
LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC
LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $63,421,028 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($36,016,396). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 38
- Grants received
- $63M
- Net assets
- $4.7M
What Legal Action of Wisconsin Inc does
Mission
Legal action exists to provide creative, effective, and high-quality legal representation in order to achieve justice for low-income people and others to whom it would otherwise be denied. We advocate for empowerment and systemic change to help our clients realize their basic right to a decent quality of life. We strive for client and community participation in carrying out our mission.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Civil legal services were provided to approximately 24,403 low-income and elderly clients. For the fiscal year 2023, legal action of wisconsin, inc. Received volunteer attorney services valued at $1,044,504.
$16,667,404 spent$13,135 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $16,667,404.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $4.0M to $8.4M (+110%).
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: 2019 82% · 2020 95% · 2021 93% · 2022 95% · 2023 79% · 2024 91%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (95% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 6 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
Deedee Peterson
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $15M.
7 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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
LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 88%; 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 LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 75% · 2019 67% · 2020 75% · 2021 69% · 2022 70% · 2023 41% — 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
67% of LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC draws 62% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC's funding base is broadening — from 10 funders to 23 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 254 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.1M on record.
- Department of Justice$1.9M
- Department of the Treasury$1.2M
- Department of Veterans Affairs$950k
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 LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% 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 LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN 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 LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC?
- LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $63,421,028 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($36,016,396). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC have?
- IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $63,421,028 in grants to LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC?
- LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $36,016,396 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 38 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