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Free Law Project

  • Oakland, CA
  • Tax-exempt since July 2014
  • EIN: 46-3342480

Organization summary

Type of Nonprofit

Designated as a Organizations for any of the following purposes: religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition (as long as it doesn't provide athletic facilities or equipment), or the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.

Category: Crime, Legal-Related / Public Interest Law, Litigation (NTEE)

Donations to this organization are tax deductible.

Summary charts: organization finances over time

Revenue
$854k (2023)

Expenses
$537k (2023)

Total Assets
$748k (2023)

Total Liabilities
$0 (2023)

Source: Form 990 tax filings from 2015 to 2023

Tax Filings by Year

Form 990 is an information return that most organizations claiming federal tax-exempt status must file yearly with the IRS. Nonprofit Explorer has IRS digitized Form 990 data for filings processed in 2012 and later. If this organization filed an amended return, it may not be reflected below. Duplicate download links may indicate a resubmission or amendment to this organization's original return. Form 990 data is from the IRS.

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2023

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$854,099
Expenses
$537,117
Net Income
$316,982
Net Assets
$747,880
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $429,961
50.3%
Program Services $418,037
48.9%
Investment Income $6,101
0.7%
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $97,087
18.1%
Professional Fundraising Fees $0
Other Salaries and Wages $173,657
32.3%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $747,880
Total Liabilities $0
Net Assets $747,880
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
William Palin (Employee) $119,700 $0 $276
Michael Lissner (Ex Director) $97,087 $0 $2,913
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Nov. 13, 2024

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2022

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$639,041
Expenses
$480,728
Net Income
$158,313
Net Assets
$430,907
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $231,675
36.3%
Program Services $402,796
63.0%
Investment Income $341
0.1%
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $4,229
0.7%
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $97,087
20.2%
Professional Fundraising Fees $0
Other Salaries and Wages $119,042
24.8%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $430,907
Total Liabilities $0
Net Assets $430,907
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
William Palin (Employee) $119,042 $0 $0
Michael Lissner (Ex Director) $97,087 $0 $2,913
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Nov. 15, 2023

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2021

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$336,472
Expenses
$296,654
Net Income
$39,818
Net Assets
$272,594
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $128,044
38.1%
Program Services $208,428
61.9%
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $94,288
31.8%
Professional Fundraising Fees $0
Other Salaries and Wages $114,000
38.4%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $272,594
Total Liabilities $0
Net Assets $272,594
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
William Palin (Employee) $114,000 $0 $0
Michael Lissner (Ex Director) $94,288 $0 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Nov. 12, 2022

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2020

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$227,971
Expenses
$254,559
Net Income
-$26,588
Net Assets
$232,776
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $76,343
33.5%
Program Services $151,628
66.5%
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $207,896
81.7%
Professional Fundraising Fees $0
Other Salaries and Wages $0
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $232,776
Total Liabilities $0
Net Assets $232,776
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
William Palin (Employee) $118,385 $0 $0
Michael Lissner (Ex Director) $92,423 $0 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Sept. 11, 2021

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2019

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$309,820
Expenses
$176,109
Net Income
$133,711
Net Assets
$259,364
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $56,739
18.3%
Program Services $253,081
81.7%
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $41,077
23.3%
Professional Fundraising Fees $0
Other Salaries and Wages $60,423
34.3%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $267,997
Total Liabilities $8,633
Net Assets $259,364
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
Michael Lissner (Ex Director) $88,077 $0 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0 $0

Document Links

990
Filed on Sept. 9, 2020

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2018

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from 990-EZ
Revenue
$136,119
Expenses
$85,022
Net Income
$51,097
Net Assets
$126,857
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $77,876
57.2%
Program Services $58,243
42.8%
Investment Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $126,857
Total Liabilities $0
Net Assets $126,857
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Other
Michael Lissner (Executive Dir.) $80,500 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0

Document Links

990-EZ
Filed on June 13, 2019

Short form tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
PDF XML
PDF (2 of 2)

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2017

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from 990-EZ
Revenue
$95,459
Expenses
$63,879
Net Income
$31,580
Net Assets
$18,339
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $18,792
19.7%
Program Services $76,667
80.3%
Investment Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $75,760
Total Liabilities $57,421
Net Assets $18,339
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Other
Michael Lissner (Executive Dir.) $62,000 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0
Ansel Halliburton (Board Member) $0 $0

Document Links

990-EZ
Filed on May 15, 2018

Short form tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
PDF XML
PDF (2 of 2)

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2016

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from 990-EZ
Revenue
$54,528
Expenses
$92,178
Net Income
-$37,650
Net Assets
$29,739
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $7,003
12.8%
Program Services $37,672
69.1%
Investment Income $13
0.0%
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $9,840
18.0%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $47,884
Total Liabilities $18,145
Net Assets $29,739
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Other
Michael Lissner (Executive Dir.) $90,010 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0
Thomas Bruce (Board Member) $0 $0
Jerry Goldman (Board Member) $0 $0
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Document Links

990-EZ
Filed on May 13, 2017

Short form tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2015

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from 990-EZ
Revenue
$95,446
Expenses
$28,057
Net Income
$67,389
Net Assets
$67,389
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $67,919
71.2%
Program Services $27,506
28.8%
Investment Income $21
0.0%
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $0
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $67,389
Total Liabilities $0
Net Assets $67,389
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Other
Michael Lissner (Executive Dir.) $24,803 $0
Brian Carver (Treasurer) $0 $0
Thomas Bruce (Board Member) $0 $0
Jerry Goldman (Board Member) $0 $0
+ View more people

Document Links

990-EZ
Filed on July 26, 2016

Short form tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing
PDF XML
PDF (2 of 2)

About This Data

Nonprofit Explorer includes summary data for nonprofit tax returns and full Form 990 documents, in both PDF and digital formats.

The summary data contains information processed by the IRS during the 2012-2019 calendar years; this generally consists of filings for the 2011-2018 fiscal years, but may include older records. This data release includes only a subset of what can be found in the full Form 990s.

In addition to the raw summary data, we link to PDFs and digital copies of full Form 990 documents wherever possible. This consists of separate releases by the IRS of Form 990 documents processed by the agency, which we update regularly.

We also link to copies of audits nonprofit organizations that spent $750,000 or more in Federal grant money in a single fiscal year since 2016. These audits are copied from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.

Which Organizations Are Here?

Every organization that has been recognized as tax exempt by the IRS has to file Form 990 every year, unless they make less than $200,000 in revenue and have less than $500,000 in assets, in which case they have to file form 990-EZ. Organizations making less than $50,000 don’t have to file either form but do have to let the IRS they’re still in business via a Form 990N "e-Postcard."

Nonprofit Explorer has organizations claiming tax exemption in each of the 27 subsections of the 501(c) section of the tax code, and which have filed a Form 990, Form 990EZ or Form 990PF. Taxable trusts and private foundations that are required to file a form 990PF are also included. Small organizations filing a Form 990N "e-Postcard" are not included in this data.

Types of Nonprofits

There are 27 nonprofit designations based on the numbered subsections of section 501(c) of the tax code. See the list »

Get the Data

For those interested in acquiring the original data from the source, here’s where our data comes from:

  • Raw filing data. Includes EINs and summary financials as structured data.
  • Exempt Organization profiles. Includes organization names, addresses, etc. You can merge this with the raw filing data using EIN numbers.
  • Form 990 documents. Prior to 2017, these documents were obtained and processed by Public.Resource.org and ProPublica. Bulk PDF downloads since 2017 are available from the IRS.
  • Form 990 documents as XML files. Includes complete filing data (financial details, names of officers, tax schedules, etc.) in machine-readable format. Only available for electronically filed documents. Electronic data released prior to October 2021 is also available through Amazon Web Services.
  • Audits. PDFs of single or program-specific audits for nonprofit organizations that spent $750,000 or more in Federal grant money in a single fiscal year. Available for fiscal year 2015 and later.

API

The data powering this website is available programmatically, via an API. Read the API documentation »

Byline

By Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford and Ash Ngu, ProPublica, and Brandon Roberts, Special to ProPublica.
Design by Jeff Frankl. Additional development by Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, and Sisi Wei.

E-file viewer adapted from IRS e-File Viewer by Ben Getson. Code for scraping audit documents adapated from Govwiki.

Updated