How do I find funders for a grassroots civil rights and advocacy nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations, currently American Center for Law and Justice Inc, Chicanos Por la Causa Inc Cplc, Takeaction Mn Education Fund. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

What counts as a grassroots organization here?

Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.

How much grant money goes to grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations?

$1.8B reached 5,513 grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations from 7,970 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Civil rights and advocacy · grassroots

Who funds grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations

The funders that back grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations are specialists, not generalists: American Center for Law and Justice Inc gives them 325.4× the national rate, with 85% of its grants going here. These are the small organizations the big-institution funders usually miss, so the funders that show up here are the ones worth a small civil rights and advocacy nonprofit's time.

$1.8B

granted

5,513

organizations

7,970

funders

The short version

7,970 funders gave $1.8B to 5,513 grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is American Center for Law and Justice Inc, giving 325.4× the national rate to grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Texas Casa Inc, at $38M.
The grassroots civil rights and advocacy organization drawing the most is American Center for Law and Justice -District of Columbia Inc, at $11M.

Funders most focused on grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

American Center for Law and Justice Inc325.4×$8M · 85% of its giving Chicanos Por la Causa Inc Cplc318.4×$11M · 76% of its giving Takeaction Mn Education Fund293.6×$8M · 73% of its giving Alliance for Justice234.9×$3M · 100% of its giving Richard Sackler Family Foundation230.8×$3M · 91% of its giving Descendants Truth&Reconciliation Tr226.9×$2M · 100% of its giving Pro Mujer Inc223.7×$3M · 85% of its giving San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center220.9×$2M · 100% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1Texas Casa Inc$38M 2Hopewell Fund$29M 3NEO Philanthropy Inc$18M 4The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation$18M 5Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Inc$16M 6The Andrew W Mellon Foundation$16M 7Borealis Philanthropy$15M 8Tides Center$12M

Grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

5,503 other grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations$1.8B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots civil rights and advocacy nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations, currently American Center for Law and Justice Inc, Chicanos Por la Causa Inc Cplc, Takeaction Mn Education Fund. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a grassroots organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.
How much grant money goes to grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations?: $1.8B reached 5,513 grassroots civil rights and advocacy organizations from 7,970 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.