California · Nonprofit
LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC
LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC (California) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,725,052 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,216,810). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.8M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $9.7M
- Net assets
- $6.3M
What Legal Services for Children Inc does
Mission
Legal services for children ("lsc") provides free representation to children and youth who require legal assistance to stabilize their lives and realize their full potential. Through a holistic team approach utilizing legal advocacy and social work services, our goal is to empower clients and actively involve them in the critical decisions that impact their lives. Lcs uses this model to achieve safety, stability, educational success and freedom from detention and deportation for our clients. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, lsc represented 679 children and youth in their legal cases and provided services to a total of 1729 children, youth, and concerned adults.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Freedom from deportation: immigration.we believe that children and youth cannot reach their full potential if they live in fear of deportation. Lsc represents children in immigration cases to ensure that they can remain in a safe place with access to opportunity. During fiscal year 2024-2025, lsc provided full-scope legal representation by an in-house or pro bono attorney in 409 immigration cases and provided screenings, know your rights education, advocacy, and social work support to 159 young people being held in orr detention.
$2,140,135 spent$3,750 earned by the program62% of program spendingSafety and stability at home: guardianship and dependency. We believe all children deserve safe and stable homes where they have access to education and health opportunities. Lsc represents children in guardianship and foster care cases to ensure that they have the stability they need to thrive. During fiscal year 2024-2025, lsc represented children and youth in 120 guardianship cases, 125 children in foster care, and 3 clients seeking emancipation.
$978,708 spent$7,500 earned by the program28% of program spendingAccess to education: educational advocacywe believe that school discipline is a major driving force in the inequitable educational outcomes faced by low income children and children of color. Lsc represents bay area students in expulsion hearings to ensure access to education and to work against educational inequity. During fiscal year 2024-2025, lsc provided direct legal representation in 20 education cases.
$143,721 spent$3,750 earned by the program4% of program spendingHolistic services: wellness projectwe believe that every child and youth deserves to grow up feeling safe and nurtured. The wellness project at lsc aims to bring trauma-informed and holistic practices to the legal and social work services we provide for our clients. In fiscal year 2024-2025, lsc social workers provided social work support/case management services to 442 non-detained youth.
$103,982 spent3% of program spendingAdvice and counsel and training:lsc provided information, advice and counsel, and/or referrals to a total of 972 children, youth, and concerned adults through our telephone warmline and other intake venues during fiscal year 2024-2025. Lsc also provided presentations, trainings for other youth-serving organizations, and participated in task force and coalition meetings.
$103,981 spent3% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,470,527.
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 2023 to 2024, from $4.6M to $6.4M (+39%).
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 42% · 2018 49% · 2019 40% · 2020 55% · 2021 48% · 2022 54% · 2023 48% · 2024 35% · 2025 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC’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. 1 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.
Board chair
Kim A Thompson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $459k → $752k.
16 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 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 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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
59% 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 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 15% · 2019 47% · 2020 11% · 2021 21% · 2022 23% · 2023 15% — 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
57% of LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
77% of LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.1M 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.
Against its field
LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN 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 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC?
- LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC (California) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,725,052 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,216,810). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $9,725,052 in grants to LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,216,810 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC 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 65 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