Ohio · Nonprofit
LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND
LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND (Ohio) receives grants from 102 organizations whose IRS filings report $53,736,126 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($20,643,442). 76 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 102
- Grants received
- $54M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Legal Aid Society of Cleveland does
Mission
See schedule o.legal aid's mission is to secure justice, equity and access to opportunity for and with people who have low incomes through passionate legal representation and advocacy for systematic change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Legal aid promotes economic security and education: increase access to quality education, increase income and assets, reduce debt, and reduce disparities in income and wealth. Legal aid's strategies in achieving this goal include: removing employment barriers, providing consumer protection, increasing access to public benefits, and improving clients' access to quality education. In 2025, legal aid removed education barriers for clients in 96% of relevant cases. We also reduced debt, increased income, and increased assets for our clients by $12.2 million.
$7,015,247 spent$11,156 earned by the program40% of program spendingLegal aid improves safety and health: secures safety for survivors of domestic violence and other crimes, increase access to health care, improve health and safety of homes, and mitigate the social determinants of health. Legal aid's strategies in achieving this goal include: securing safety for domestic violence survivors and other victims of crime; increasing access to health care; and improving health and safety of homes and neighborhoods. In 2025, legal aid increased safety for 96% of clients for whom safety was an issue and expanded our medical legal partnerships with local health providers.
$4,848,719 spent28% of program spendingLegal aid secures stable and decent housing: increase availability and accessibility of affordable housing, improve housing stability, and improve housing conditions. Legal aid's strategies in achieving this goal include increasing access to rent assistance, improving housing stability, and improving housing conditions. In 2025, legal aid prevented evictions/involuntary moves for 79% of clients for whom this was an issue.
$5,657,627 spent$58,043 earned by the program32% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $17,521,593.
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.
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 $14M to $18M (+33%).
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 44% · 2018 39% · 2019 32% · 2020 28% · 2021 34% · 2022 36% · 2023 44% · 2024 44% · 2025 51%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Colleen Cotter
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 60 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $11M.
17 of 102 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 102 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 AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 60%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 52% · 2019 48% · 2020 46% · 2021 38% · 2022 32% · 2023 33% — 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
58% of LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
51% of LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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.
Government funding LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.3M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$1.3M
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 AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- 1223 West Sixth LLC · disregarded
- The Legal Aid Society of Northeast Ohio LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND: 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 AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND?
- LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND (Ohio) receives grants from 102 organizations whose IRS filings report $53,736,126 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($20,643,442). 76 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND have?
- IRS filings report 102 organizations giving $53,736,126 in grants to LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND, 76 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND?
- LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $20,643,442 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Legal Aid Society of Cleveland →
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 102 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