Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY
PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,791,761 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY ($1,294,166). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $-23547
What Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity does
Mission
PLSE seeks a more equitable social environment for those with criminal records through individual representation strategic litigation community education research and advocacy. PLSE does this by seeking expungements in criminal court and pardons from the Governor educating elected business and community leaders; empowering and organizing under-resourced communities; and leading legislative administrative and systemic reform.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Criminal Records Expungement Project - Employers landlords financial and academic institutions professional associations licensing boards and others frequently use past criminal record histories to deny opportunities to qualified applicants. This happens even when the event occurred decades earlier or did not result in a conviction. This prevents many qualified individuals from achieving financial and social stability and negatively affects their families and communities. This is especially true for low-income individuals. In Pennsylvania only judges can expunge delete or seal remove from the public record criminal record information and many individuals cannot afford an attorney to assist with a process to which they are legally entitled. The Criminal Record Expungement Project addresses this inequality by providing pro bono legal assistance to low-income Philadelphians with criminal records. In FY2025 PLSE assisted 1,851 low-income individuals from all 47 residential zip codes in Philadelphia. We primarily use a community-based clinic model to engage new clients. We provided brief service information or referral and for those not income eligible for 416 people. And of the 1,851…
$304,970 spent$343,862 earned by the program29% of program spendingPardon Project - With few exceptions expunging a conviction first requires a pardon from the Governor. PLSE began the Pardon Project in 2018 when the process cost money and resulted in failure for over 90% of all applicants . Today thanks to reforms driven by PLSE the application is free online and written mostly in Plain English. PLSE accepted 310 new clients for pardon services in FY25. Its Pardon Project Steering Committee all with lived experience in the criminal justice system continues to thrive and serve as a source of community support for pardon applicants both PLSE clients and others. All participants completing an intake for the Criminal Record Expungement Project are also screened for pardon eligibility.
$464,348 spent$485,009 earned by the program45% of program spendingCommunity Education - PLSE conducted 15 training sessions for individuals interested in volunteering as Pardon Coaches. PLSE manages the website www.PardonMePA.org offering information to individuals and community groups statewide. The organization also expanded its Video Library to assist individuals seeking record-clearing volunteers and communities looking to establish Pardon Projects.
$268,295 spent$296,701 earned by the program26% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,037,613.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2021 to 2022, from $547k to $1.1M (+97%).
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: 2021 18% · 2022 0% · 2023 13% · 2024 20% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY’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. 2 of the last 5 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
Taylor Pacheco
Executive Director
Board chair
Ryan Hancock Esq
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2023 and FY2024, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $21k → $289k.
6 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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
PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
81% 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 PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 48% · 2019 55% · 2020 36% · 2021 38% · 2022 51% · 2023 30% — 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
23% of PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
89% of PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $153k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 852 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 852 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY: 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 PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY?
- PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,791,761 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY ($1,294,166). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $3,791,761 in grants to PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY?
- UNITED WAY OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY is the largest funder on record, with $1,294,166 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PHILADELPHIA LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 32 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