Tennessee · Nonprofit
TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES
TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES (Tennessee) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $798,044 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION ($285,988). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.6M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $798k
- Net assets
- $486k
What Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services does
Mission
Tals strengthens the delivery of civil legal help to vulnerable tennesseans by simplifying the search for civil legal help, being a leading & unifying voice and establishing a center for innovation, training & expertise.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
This is the first full year the organization performed grants management services for the family centered legal services program. The prior year 990 included these with tals core program services, but the organization has elected to present these separately in the current year.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Tals serves as a center of innovation, training and expertise for civil legal assistance organizations and pro bono attorneys in tn; simplifies the search for legal help and serves as a leading and unifying voice in the civil justice community. Provided legal information, legal advice and/or referral to disadvantaged tennesseans through its tollfree legal helpline 1844help4tn, online legal advice service tnfreelegalanswers.org, and legal information portal help4tn.org app.
$483,510 spentof which $17,948 as grants$88,692 earned by the program8% of program spendingGrants management oversees the passthrough of funds from the state of tennessee department of human services grants to legal services providers providing ssi and family centered legal services programs across the state of tennessee as part of the state of tennessee's temporary assistance for needy families (tanf) funding.
$5,732,987 spentof which $5,515,559 as grants92% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,216,497.
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 2022 to 2023, from $599k to $2.1M (+253%).
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 77% · 2018 91% · 2019 93% · 2020 94% · 2021 94% · 2022 80% · 2023 87% · 2024 94%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES’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 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
Laura Brown
Executive director
Board chair
Deb House
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $64k → $179k.
3 of 10 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 TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR 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
TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
82% 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 TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 71% · 2019 100% · 2020 64% · 2021 100% · 2022 69% · 2023 28% — 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
43% of TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES'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
70% of TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR 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.
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 TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES?
- TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES (Tennessee) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $798,044 to it, the largest being TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION ($285,988). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $798,044 in grants to TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES?
- TENNESSEE BAR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $285,988 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TENNESSEE ALLIANCE FOR LEGAL SERVICES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 10 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