Cancer Legal Care

“Clc's ceo/ed and its executive committee review the draft 990. Any questions are addressed, and any necessary revisions are made. The full board of directors is then supplied with an electronic copy of the final 990 prior to filing. The board is encouraged to review the 990 and ask any questions that they have. The board discusses the filed 990 at the next board meeting and approves the filing with the state of minnesota.”

“Clc's board members and officers are all subject to a conflict of interest policy that requires decision making on any transaction that would affect any of those individual's "material financial interest(s) or would significantly affect their personal interest(s) ("appearance conflicts") to be affected on action of the entire board, after the board has been given prior notice of the individual(s) and the conflict(s), and with only directors who are independent of the party with the actual or perceived conflict participating. The question as to whether an individual has a conflict falling within the policy is decided by the board, not including in its deliberations or vote the party(ies) whose conflict is at issue. All potential, perceived, or actual conflicts are reviewed on an annual basis, and every year at our first board meeting of the year in february, each board member completes and signs our conflicts disclosure.”

“The ceo/ed's salary is set each year by the executive committee, comprised of our board chair, vice-chair/secretary, and treasurer. The executive committee reviews the most recent "minnesota nonprofit salary and benefit survey" prepared by the minnesota council for nonprofits in setting the executive director's salary. All the board members/officers are independent. The publication provides helpful listing of comparable salaries, benefits and other compensation measures for similar positions, relative to education and experience across a wide range of nonprofit organizations. Compensation is also based on the ceo/ed's job performance over the past year. The executive committee meets with the ceo/ed to review and assess progress made during the year in meeting goals set forth as part of the ceo/ed's written job requirement and performance obligations.”

“Cancer legal care's conflict of interest statement, governing documents, financial statements, and public documents are located at our office at 3503 high point drive, suite 270, oakdale, mn 55128.”

“Highlights and impact from cancer legal care's work in 2024: - in 2024, we maintained our 20%+ growth in clients since 2023, working with 619 clients on 848 legal matters. Our work touched a total of 1,271 people living in households with our clients, including 254 minor children. - free legal care reduces our clients' risk for cancer's financial toxicity: since 2019, cancer legal care's direct legal services have protected or recovered more than $5,000,000 for our clients by way of successful insurance appeals so our clients are not facing thousands of dollars in medical bills they do not rightfully owe, or securing a monthly income stream through social security disability benefits when they are no longer able to work. - legal care reaches all four corners of the state: anyone affected by any cancer (patient, survivor, or caregiver) living anywhere in the state is eligible for cancer legal care's services. To date, we have served clients in 79 of minnesota's 87 counties; in 2024 our work reached clients living in 45 different minnesota counties. - meaningful return on our donors' investment: with annual expenses between $500,000-800,000 over the last five years, cancer legal care delivers an incredible "bang for the buck", providing more than $23,000,000 in free legal services since our founding. Cancer legal care helps minnesotans all over the state meet basic needs by providing legal care in the following areas: - insurance coverage (health insurance, short/long term disability) - housing and financial (eviction, foreclosure, creditor issues, bankruptcy) - employment (ada/mhra discrimination/reasonable accommodation, fmla) - legal planning (health care directives, guardianship, wills, powers of attorney) - public benefits (social security disability, medicaid) by receiving critical legal care services at a vulnerable time, minnesotans affected by cancer experience enhanced financial security and family stability, and report improved health and well-being. Cancer legal care works closely with oncology providers and cancer support groups throughout the state. Cancer legal care is the only organization providing direct legal care services to the minnesota cancer community. Cancer legal care exists for three reasons: (1) the prevalence of cancer. Like the rest of the nation, 1 in 3 minnesota women and 1 in 2 minnesota men will be diagnosed with a potentially serious cancer at some point in their life. In 2024, it is expected that 38,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed, and 10,000 minnesotans will die of cancer. Additionally, it is estimated that there are 281,650 minnesotans currently living with a history of cancer. Cancer affects people at every stage of life, across all income levels. (2) the financial devastation that cancer brings. Studies abound regarding cancer's financial devastation and the incredible impact it has on health care decision making and quality of life. So much so that cancer's financial devastation has its own term of art: financial toxicity. A recent study done over 16 years looking at 9.5 million cancer survivors, found that 42% of all newly diagnosed cancer patients over the age of 50 will deplete their life savings within two years of diagnosis. In 2024, the average age of a clc client was 57. Cancer survivors are 2.5 times more likely to file for bankruptcy than people without cancer, and those cancer survivors who do file are 80% more likely to die than cancer patients who don't file for bankruptcy protection. At clc, we see this stark reality in our clients' lives each day. Behind each one of these statistics is an individual or a family in crisis. Financial toxicity and the stress it brings are often more life-threatening than the cancer itself. (3) the lack of any other resource for this critically needed legal care. The legal issues cancer patients face surrounding employment, health and private disability insurance, and estate planning are not typically within the array of services provi”