Greater Boston Legal Services, Inc.

Greater Boston Legal Services, Inc., a tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, receives federal grants as a prime recipient and sub-recipient to deliver civil legal services to low-income taxpayers, crime victims, and tenants facing eviction. The organization does not hold federal contracts; its federal footprint consists entirely of grant awards, with 70% positioned as prime recipient grants and 30% as sub-awards passed through state and nonprofit intermediaries.

The organization's capability portfolio centers on three core service areas. Under the Internal Revenue Service Low Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITC) program (CFDA 21.008), Greater Boston Legal Services provides tax representation before the IRS and other tribunals, tax education, and advocacy on behalf of low-income taxpayers and English-as-second-language speakers whose household incomes do not exceed 250 percent of federal poverty guidelines. A current three-year LITC award runs January 2026 through December 2028 at $200,000, with a prior three-year award (January 2023–December 2025) valued at $390,000. In crime victims' services, the organization holds sub-awards from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) program to operate victim service projects, with renewals awarded in July 2025, July 2024, July 2023, and July 2022. The organization also receives sub-grants through Equal Justice Works to host crime victims' advocacy fellows and law students in underserved BIPOC communities, awarded in June 2023. For housing assistance, Greater Boston Legal Services received a sub-award effective January 2025 through the Massachusetts Eviction Protection Program to provide full-scope tenant representation in eviction cases, including pleadings, trial work, mediation, and administrative advocacy around subsidy terminations, alongside community outreach on tenant rights.

Customer concentration is narrow and driven by the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice. The Internal Revenue Service accounts for 24 of 47 total awards; the DOJ Office of Justice Programs Victims of Crime component accounts for 11 awards. Housing and Urban Development, the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women, and the DOJ Office of Justice Programs round out the six customer agencies, which collectively cover 94% of awards. All federal funding has been obligated through five principal agencies, with combined dollars obligated across the full award portfolio at $7.3 million. Activity is episodic rather than steady — two awards in 2024 and four in 2025 — reflecting the three-year grant-award cycle of the IRS LITC program and the annual renewal structure of VOCA sub-awards through Massachusetts. An OPRE project grant supporting GBLS's Family Stabilization Project ran through August 2024. Sub-award work with Massachusetts on VOCA victim services and with Equal Justice Works on crime victims' advocacy indicates reliance on intermediary relationships for federal funding flow rather than direct prime-agency relationships outside the IRS LITC program.