Connecticut · Nonprofit
SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC
SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $539,754 to it, the largest being SOCIAL GOOD FUND INC ($124,984). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $401k
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $540k
- Net assets
- $284k
What Special Education Legal Fund Inc does
Mission
The mission of special education legal fund, inc. (s.e.l.f.) is to level the playing field for families in need with children in the special education system. S.e.l.f. Provides resources, knowledge and empowerment to support families in the special education advocacy in connecticut, new york and the surrounding areas.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Legal assistance program: the legal assistance program provides life-altering education improvements and changes in the form of legal assistance to families experiencing financial need and hardship with children in special education. Our mission is to provide these families with funding to secure a qualified special education attorney to fully advocate for their child's free and appropriate public education rights. Special education legal fund accepts grant applications for the legal assistance program on a rolling basis throughout the year based on existing funding.
$265,470 spentof which $255,209 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $265,470.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $148k to $254k (+72%).
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.
97% of SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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
Christine Lai
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income fell $112k → $45k.
9 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 18 of 19 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
SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
89% 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 SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 46% · 2020 62% · 2021 46% · 2022 37% · 2023 34% — 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
20% of SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
84% of SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $87k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside Connecticut, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $452k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND 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 SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC?
- SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $539,754 to it, the largest being SOCIAL GOOD FUND INC ($124,984). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $539,754 in grants to SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC?
- SOCIAL GOOD FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $124,984 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL FUND INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Special Education Legal →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 19 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