California · Nonprofit
Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County (California) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,542,729 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,434,699). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 52
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County does
Mission
We use the law to make the social safety net work for everyone in San Mateo County. We represent clients, empower people to advocate for themselves, and fix broken systems through policy change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The LIBRE (Linking Immigrants to Benefits, Resources & Education) Project's goal is to educate our immigrant communities about the safety net services available, link them to specific agencies in their communities that can assist them with the enrollment process, and provide legal advice and representation to those seeking immigration relief or safety net benefits.
$1,936,947 spentof which $1,049,317 as grants36% of program spendingHomeSavers provides legal assistance to people threatened with losing their homes or living in substandard conditions with the goals of keeping people in their homes; preventing homelessness through the enforcement of legal rights, in and out of court; and remedying substandard living conditions through advocacy.
$933,610 spentof which $218,837 as grants18% of program spendingThe Health Consumer Center helps low income San Mateo residents navigate a flawed healthcare system with the ultimate goal of improving access to quality healthcare and health insurance coverage.
$517,791 spent10% of program spendingLegal Aid Society of San Mateo County uses the law to make the social safety net work by representing clients when they can't break through the bureaucracy, advocating to fix broken systems, and empowering clients to advocate for themselves.
$1,928,246 spentof which $11,083 as grants$46,050 earned by the program36% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,316,594.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.9M to $6.1M (+25%).
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 28% · 2018 27% · 2019 40% · 2020 38% · 2021 39% · 2022 50% · 2023 57% · 2025 67%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’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. 4 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
M Stacey Hawver
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $884k → $2.2M.
16 of 52 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 San Mateo County’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 52 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 San Mateo County has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
61% 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 San Mateo County.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 44% · 2019 39% · 2020 15% · 2021 22% · 2022 15% · 2023 45% — 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
62% of Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
96% of Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 Aid Society of San Mateo County's funding base is broadening — from 15 funders to 29 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 Aid Society of San Mateo County: 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 San Mateo County?
- Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County (California) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,542,729 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,434,699). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County have?
- IRS filings report 52 organizations giving $11,542,729 in grants to Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,434,699 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 52 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