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Michigan · Nonprofit

Michigan Indian Legal Services

Michigan Indian Legal Services (Michigan) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,804,008 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($1,685,947). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.3M
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$2.8M
Net assets
$727k
6/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 55%
01What it does

What Michigan Indian Legal Services does

Mission

MILS provides legal services to low income Indian individuals and tribes to further self sufficiency, overcome discrimination, assist tribal governments and preserve Indian families.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Provision of free legal assistance

    $843,277 spent$118,369 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $843,277.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($627k) Expenses 100 ($588k) Net assets 100 ($97k)2018 Revenue 91 ($567k) Expenses 92 ($543k) Net assets 125 ($122k)2019 Revenue 95 ($596k) Expenses 99 ($585k) Net assets 137 ($133k)2020 Revenue 119 ($749k) Expenses 116 ($680k) Net assets 208 ($202k)2021 Revenue 143 ($897k) Expenses 130 ($766k) Net assets 342 ($333k)2022 Revenue 125 ($785k) Expenses 136 ($799k) Net assets 328 ($319k)2023 Revenue 130 ($812k) Expenses 150 ($882k) Net assets 256 ($250k)2024 Revenue 186 ($1.2M) Expenses 168 ($989k) Net assets 439 ($427k)2025 Revenue 202 ($1.3M) Expenses 164 ($966k) Net assets 747 ($727k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (202)Expenses (164)Net assets (747)Peer revenue range

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 $295k to $656k (+122%).

$140k
$142k
$173k
$351k
$398k
$402k
$295k
$656k
$919k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 34% · 2018 41% · 2019 41% · 2020 50% · 2021 58% · 2022 78% · 2023 77% · 2024 89% · 2025 65%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

90% of Michigan Indian Legal Services’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,392 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$39k
’17
$24k
’18
$11k
’19
$69k
’20
$131k
’21
−$14k
’22
−$70k
’23
$178k
’24
$299k
’25
7.6
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

Cameron A Fraser

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed111211111111101011
Joined·+2+5+3+4+1+0+2+1
No longer listed·16341120
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $69k → $369k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
$36k
$17k
funders
2
3
3
5
4
3
5
4
1

1 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 Michigan Indian Legal Services’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

Michigan Indian Legal Services leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 93%; 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 Michigan Indian Legal Services.

60%
largest funder
93%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 65% · 2019 60% · 2020 73% · 2021 66% · 2022 79% · 2023 67% — 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

67% of Michigan Indian Legal Services's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

Michigan Indian Legal Services draws 71% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 5 states in all.

MT
MI
CA
CO
DC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $666 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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

Against its field

Michigan Indian Legal Services runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin24% · top quartile
Months of reserve7.6mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding Michigan Indian Legal Services receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $824k on record.

Federal$824k
grants $824kcontracts $0
19
20
21
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • Department of Health and Human Services$824k

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 Michigan Indian Legal Services

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 Michigan

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 12%Fundraising 0%

Governance

10
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

MI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Michigan Indian Legal Services: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Michigan Indian Legal Services?
Michigan Indian Legal Services (Michigan) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,804,008 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($1,685,947). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Michigan Indian Legal Services have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $2,804,008 in grants to Michigan Indian Legal Services, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Michigan Indian Legal Services?
LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,685,947 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Michigan Indian Legal Services find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Michigan Indian Legal Services →

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 8 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