How do I find funders for a mid-size civil rights and advocacy nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations, currently March on Maryland, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc, Thousand Currents. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

How much grant money goes to mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations?

$7.9B reached 2,703 mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations from 9,978 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 · mid-size

Who funds mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations

The funders that back mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations are specialists, not generalists: March on Maryland gives them 99.9× the national rate, with 100% of its grants going here.

$7.9B

granted

2,703

organizations

9,978

funders

The short version

9,978 funders gave $7.9B to 2,703 mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations (mid-size ($1M to $10M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is March on Maryland, giving 99.9× the national rate to mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, at $219M.
The mid-size civil rights and advocacy organization drawing the most is Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism Inc, at $114M.

Funders most focused on mid-size 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.

March on Maryland99.9×$16M · 100% of its giving American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc98.1×$106M · 85% of its giving Thousand Currents82.1×$70M · 72% of its giving Bend the Arc - a Jewish Partnership for Justice82.1×$14M · 81% of its giving Tzedek Social Justice Fund of Ohio80.1×$6M · 100% of its giving Center for Public Justice76.3×$6M · 99% of its giving Beren Sea Foundation72.2×$13M · 71% of its giving National Korean American Service and Education Consortium Inc72.1×$6M · 86% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

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

1The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation$219M 2Hopewell Fund$162M 3Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Inc$142M 4The California Endowment$112M 5American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc$106M 6NEO Philanthropy Inc$88M 7Freedom Together Foundation$85M 8Foundation to Promote Open Society$81M

Mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations that draw the most

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

2,693 other mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations$7.3B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a mid-size civil rights and advocacy nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations, currently March on Maryland, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc, Thousand Currents. 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 mid-size organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: mid-size ($1M to $10M). 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 mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations?: $7.9B reached 2,703 mid-size civil rights and advocacy organizations from 9,978 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.