Neighborhood Legal Support of Kansas City
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
NLS performs legal work to allow blighted and abandoned urban core properties to be turned into good quality housing for low income families. We also assist and support the efforts of neighborhood organizations in the urban core area to address abandoned housing issues.
- Income
- $390,055
- Spending
- $558,804
- Spent on programs
- 88%
- Reserves
- 5 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 58%
- Employees
- 6
- Volunteers
- 35
- Highest pay
- $98,099, executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Fair: 55 out of 100. Higher than 20% of charities in its peer group (crime and legal services, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 5.0 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 2% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 43% of income.
Income trend
0 of 15Income fell 71% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1588% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 2 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 85 out of 100. Higher than 62% of charities in its peer group (crime and legal services, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 258 of 8 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $493,573 spent. For the last seven years, Neighborhood Legal Support of Kansas City has run a focused community development project in the Lykins Neighborhood in the Historic Northeast District of Kansas City. We have organized over 40 project partners to bring a wide array of resources to the neighborhood to remediate blight. Working with residents, police, City codes inspectors and numerous other partners, we identify blighted and abandoned homes in the neighborhood. We then bring litigation to either require the existing owners of the properties to convert them into good quality homes or to have a rehabber selected by the neighborhood do so. The entire process is focused on empowerment of the neighborhood residents. The residents, for example, chose the focus area and decide which rehabbers will be awarded which properties to develop. Neighborhood residents make all major project decisions. We see our role as empowering neighborhood residents, to the greatest extent possible, to implement their vision for community development in their neighborhood. The project has been successful. Some highlights of the project to date: We have acquired over 50 blighted properties in the neighborhood for participating rehabbers and builders; we have litigation pending to acquire 30 additional properties; and, we have agreements with 16 additional property owners to rehab their properties themselves. As part of our work, we acquired a one-acre vacant lot on behalf of the Lykins Neighborhood Association and solicited developers to build affordable housing on the lot. As a result of our work, in 2024, Habitat for Humanity agreed to build 8 new, highly affordable houses on the lot and preserve their affordability by placing those houses into a community land trust. The lot is immediately adjacent to a public park that had frequently been used for drug dealing and human trafficking. The project has greatly reduced this criminal activity and having eight occupied, high quality houses adjacent to the park will further discourage criminal activity and encourage healthy use of the park by families and children; Due to the success of the project, we have had to expand our focus area twice. Now the focus area includes the entire Lykins Neighborhood, and, as of the end of November 2022, we had litigation pending to acquire all remaining blighted and abandoned houses in the neighborhood. Indeed, we now have a bounty program in which if any neighborhood resident can find a property in Lykins that is blighted and abandoned and not part of the project, we will pay them $100; Violent crime in Lykins is down by more than 20% in the last three years. Although there are numerous causes of this, we believe that the substantial reduction of blight in the neighborhood is one of the primary causes; and, In 2020, the American Planners Association recognized the Lykins Focused Community Development Project as the Outstanding Community Planning Initiative for 2020 for the State of Missouri.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 2017.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
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