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Non-profit

Oasis Legal Services

Website:

www.oasislegalservices.org/
Location:

Berkeley, CA
Tax ID:

82-0696739
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2023):

Revenue: $1,479,328
Expenses: $1,820,122
Assets: $914,210
Type:

LGBTQ and Immigration Activist Group
Formation:

2017
Executive Director:

Adam Chang

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Oasis Legal Services is a left-of-center legal activist organization that provides legal assistance with asylum, residency, naturalization, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) cases, and family petitions for LGBT immigrants. 1 The group maintains offices in Berkeley and Fresno, California. 2

In November 2024, Oasis Legal Services joined more than 190 organizations in an open letter to the Biden administration, urging it to close immigration detention facilities before the inauguration of President Donald Trump. 3

In June 2025, the United States House Homeland Security Committee demanded information from Oasis Legal Services and more than 500 other nonprofit organizations as part of an investigation into groups the committee alleges used taxpayer funding to worsen the southern border crisis. 4

Activities

Oasis Legal Services provides legal representation to immigrants and asylum seekers in the United States, especially immigrants who identify as LGBT. The group claims to have served over 2,700 “queer and trans immigrants” through the immigration system. 1 Oasis claims that the chances of winning an asylum case go up to 99 percent for clients when they are represented by an Oasis lawyer. 5

In 2024, with support from California’s Stop the Hate Program, Oasis produced a resource guide to support victims of violence. That same year, the group also became a state bar-funded organization. 6

In November 2024, Oasis Legal Services joined over 190 organizations when it signed an open letter to the Biden administration, urging it to close immigration detention facilities, halt all detention expansion efforts, and release immigrants from detention before the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The coalition of organizations sent the letter following President Trump’s second election, arguing that the Biden administration had a duty to “take decisive action to prevent catastrophe for millions of people” upon Trump’s inauguration. 3

In June 2025, Oasis Legal Services was one of more than 500 nonprofit organizations included in a United States House Homeland Security Committee’s investigation into the nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations the committee alleges used taxpayer funding to worsen the southern border crisis. 4 In response to the investigation, Oasis joined the other nonprofits in an open letter to the committee, arguing that the various groups were using their federal grants and contracts legally to help immigrants access legal representation. 7

Partners

Oasis Legal Services has several institutional funding partners, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation, the Horizons Foundation, the Legal Services Funders Network, the New Americans Campaign/Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the State Bar of California, the State of California Department of Social Services, the City of San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, and the Tides Foundation’s Victor and Lorraine Honig Initiative. 8

Oasis Legal Services also partners with several educational institutions by hosting legal, paralegal, social work, and undergraduate interns from colleges and universities, including Fresno State University, University of California Berkeley, University of California Davis, University of California Law San Francisco, New York University, and others. 8

Leadership

Oasis Legal Services does not publish information about its leadership or staff on its website. However, it lists the demographic information of its employees, highlighting its commitment to left-of-center political objectives. The group lists that 40 percent of its staff identify as LGBT, over half come from first-generation immigrant families, 30 percent identify as gender expansive, 40 percent identify as “Latine,” 20 percent identify as Asian, and 100 percent speak at least two languages. 2

Adam Chang is listed as the group’s executive director, according to its 2023 federal tax return. 9

Ryan Heman is chairman of the board of Oasis Legal Services. He is a program director at Humanity United (HU). Heman also works on HU’s Independent Journalism and Media program. Prior to joining HU, Ryan worked in donor education programming at Forward Global. He has also worked with the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the Arcus Foundation, and Outright International. 10

Finances

In 2023, Oasis Legal Services reported $1,479,328 in total revenue, $1,820,122 in total expenses, and $914,210 in total assets. That year, the group received $389,367 in government grants, 26 percent of its annual funding. 9

References

  1. “About Us.” Oasis Legal Services. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.oasislegalservices.org/about
  2. “Our Team.” Oasis Legal Services. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.oasislegalservices.org/our-team
  3. “193 Organizations Urge the Biden Administration to Take Decisive Action to Protect Immigrants.” Detention Watch Network. November 14, 2024. Accessd November 24, 2025. https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/releases/2024/193-organizations-urge-biden-administration-take-decisive-action-protect
  4. Christensen, Josh. “House panel demands records of more than 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel’ border crisis.” New York Post. June 10, 2025. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/06/10/us-news/house-panel-demands-records-of-over-200-ngos-that-nabbed-billions-of-taxpayer-dollars-to-fuel-border-crisis/
  5. “Our Impact.” Oasis Legal Services. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.oasislegalservices.org/our-impact
  6. “2024 Annual Impact Report.” Oasis Legal Services. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.oasislegalservices.org/impact-report-2024
  7. https://democrats-homeland.house.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_from_ngos.pdf
  8. “Our Partners.” Oasis Legal Services. Accessed November 24, 2025 https://www.oasislegalservices.org/partners
  9. “Oasis Legal Services – 2023 Federal Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/820696739/202401849349301565/full
  10. “Our Board.” Oasis Legal Services. Accessed November 24, 2025. https://www.oasislegalservices.org/board
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: March 1, 2017

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2023 Dec Form 990 $1,479,328 $1,820,122 $914,210 $334,909 N $1,138,266 $349,884 $160 $403,180
    2022 Dec Form 990 $1,520,490 $1,788,902 $994,246 $49,288 N $1,128,680 $338,124 $258 $151,184 PDF
    2021 Dec Form 990 $1,667,678 $1,292,257 $1,304,672 $88,385 N $1,264,181 $378,840 $253 $77,553
    2020 Dec Form 990 $1,448,979 $837,860 $976,337 $135,471 N $1,056,175 $392,589 $215 $56,423
    2019 Dec Form 990 $836,634 $801,979 $273,638 $43,891 N $528,026 $295,713 $59 $43,156 PDF
    2018 Dec Form 990 $606,895 $540,389 $214,831 $19,739 N $365,353 $245,022 $276 $46,200 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $448,756 $320,170 $158,312 $29,726 N $316,548 $132,160 $48 $25,757 PDF

    Oasis Legal Services

    1900 ADDISON ST STE 100
    Berkeley, CA 94704-2649