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Tennessee · Nonprofit

LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE

LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE (Tennessee) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,170,705 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($21,056,655). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$8.4M
Funders on record
23
Grants received
$29M
Net assets
$640k
17/23 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 65%
01What it does

What Legal Aid of East Tennessee does

Mission

Legal Aid of East Tennessee provides legal representation, legal education, and other civil legal services for the low-income population in our community through advocacy of all types.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Legal Aid of East Tennessee (laet) provides legal help to low-income residents of east tennessee free of charge to our clients with a mission to strengthen communities and change lives through high quality legal services. During 2024, laet closed over 6,600 cases helping more than 14,300 people including 5,822 children under 18, 1,703 seniors, 251 veterans, and 1,092 survivors of family violence. Laet's services had a great economic impact as well. Our services generated $99,677,033 in economic impact to our local east tennessee economy last year alone. Laet also supports a robust volunteer attorney program. During 2024, 166 volunteer lawyers worked on 776 pro bono cases for eligible laet clients.laet staff engage in extensive community outreach and education to ensure all are aware of our services and legal issues they may be facing. Our vast community collaborations ensure holistic services to our clients so the full range of their needs may be met. Other collaborations allow us to partner on a number of grants that enhance specialized services to various populations throughout our service area. Our statewide collaborations continue to expand and increase our ability to serve…

    $8,411,921 spentof which $129,034 as grants$23,730 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,411,921.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($5.7M) Expenses 100 ($5.7M) Net assets 100 ($929k)2019 Revenue 98 ($5.6M) Expenses 99 ($5.6M) Net assets 107 ($993k)2020 Revenue 103 ($5.9M) Expenses 103 ($5.9M) Net assets 123 ($1.1M)2021 Revenue 108 ($6.2M) Expenses 98 ($5.6M) Net assets 166 ($1.5M)2022 Revenue 102 ($5.9M) Expenses 103 ($5.8M) Net assets 170 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 127 ($7.3M) Expenses 126 ($7.2M) Net assets 185 ($1.7M)2024 Revenue 147 ($8.4M) Expenses 168 ($9.5M) Net assets 69 ($640k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (147)Expenses (168)Net assets (69)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $1.5M to $2.7M (+75%).

$1.4M
$1.5M
$2.7M
$2.3M
$3.4M
$3.8M
$2.7M
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 91% · 2019 88% · 2020 92% · 2021 93% · 2022 92% · 2023 78% · 2024 90%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$59k
’18
$18k
’19
$51k
’20
$601k
’21
$34k
’22
$142k
’23
−$1.1M
’24
1.1
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

Debra House

Executive director

Board chair

Aaron J Chapman Esq

Board president

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed27313120212323
Joined·+9+1+7+6+4+2
No longer listed·5118522
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $899k → $4.8M.

4 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 AID OF EAST TENNESSEE’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

LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

100% 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 AID OF EAST TENNESSEE.

72%
largest funder
85%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 84% · 2019 82% · 2020 89% · 2021 77% · 2022 82% · 2023 76% — growing more concentrated.

“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

82% of LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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 AID OF EAST TENNESSEE draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 3 states in all.

NY
TN
DC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $608k 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

Organizations like LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE

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 Tennessee

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

88% of spending goes to programs.

Program 88%Management 8%Fundraising 4%

Governance

13
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

Files a return copy in 1 state

TN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE: 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.

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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 AID OF EAST TENNESSEE?
LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE (Tennessee) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,170,705 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($21,056,655). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE have?
IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $29,170,705 in grants to LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE?
LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $21,056,655 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like LEGAL AID OF EAST TENNESSEE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 2018–2024), and the filings of 23 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