Skip to content
Ascend Justice at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Ascend Justice

Our mission is to empower individuals and families impacted by gender-based violence or the child welfare system to achieve safety and stability through holistic legal advocacy and systemic reform.

$143k
Granted FY2023
3
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$77k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2023.

Crime & Legal$204kHuman Services$31kHealth$19k
02FY2023 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 3 grants below total $136,400, the rows itemized in this filing. The $143,446 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $7,046 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $128k
$51,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
A SAFE PLACE$77,400
SAFER FOUNDATION (FOR WOMEN'S JUSTICE INSTITUTE)$51,000
ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE$8,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–22, $31k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SARAH'S INN: $13k → 14%FAMILY RESCUE: $13k → 14%THE NETWORK ADVOCATING AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $6k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Family Crisis Centers Inc

Walk with people facing violence, offering safety, support, and hope as they heal and rebuild. with every step forward, we build stronger, more resilient communities.

Human Services
2
Turning Point Advocacy Services

Our mission is to assist survivors and their children in learning to overcome the cycle of physical, sexual, mental, and emotional health.

Health
3
Domestic Abuse Intervention Services Inc

Our mission is to empower those affected by domestic violence and advocate for social change through support, education, and outreach.

Human Services
4
Safehouse Denver Inc

Safehouse denver assists adult, children, and youth in reclaiming their right to a life free from domestic violence. the agency provides a broad spectrum of culturally competent, trauma-informed services, including but not limited to,…

Human Services
5
Utah Domestic Violence Advisory Council

The organization's mission is to end domestic violence in utah through advocacy, education, collaboration, and leadership. the organization is the nationally recognized domestic violence coalition for the state of utah.

Crime & Legal
6
Ohio Domestic Violence Network

Started in 1989, odvn mobilizes a statewide voice on domestic violence and promotes quality services for survivors that focus on safety and self- determination.

Human Services
7
Safe Nesttemporary Assistance for

Safe nest's mission is to provide comprehensive, collaborative, and innovative services for everyone affected by domestic and sexual violence while passionatley working to end this shared epidemic.

Human Services
8
News

News is dedicated to providing safety, hope, healing and empowerment for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. equally, news is committed to promoting safe communities and social change through prevention, intervention, education, and…

Human Services
9
Safe Passage Inc

To prevent domestic violence and sexual assault in dekalb county

Human Services
10
Womens Resource Center of Newport and Bristol Counties

The women's resource center empowers survivors by providing trauma-informed services with equity and compassion while working collaboratively with the community to eliminate the root causes of interpersonal abuse.

Human Services
11
Clackamas Women's Services

Breaking the isolation of domestic and sexual violence.

Human Services
12
Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center

Provide education, advocacy, and support to spanish speaking individuals affected by violence and injustice in virginia to ensure that they can access services to empower them to become happy, healthy, and self- sufficient.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Family Rescue Inc; the most unlike its peers is Remedies Renewing Lives. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

8 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LAKE COUNTY CRISIS CENTER: $144,967 · OtherLAKE COUNTY CRISIS CENTERSafer Foundation: $51,000 · Crime & LegalSafer FoundationILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE: $8,000 · Crime & LegalILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINESARAH'S INN: $12,500 · Human ServicesSARAH'S INNFAMILY RESCUE INC: $12,500 · Human ServicesFAMILY RESCUE…THE NETWORK ADVOCATING AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $6,088 · Human ServicesTHE NETWORK A…REMEDIES RENEWING LIVES: $13,610 · HealthILLINOIS COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $5,073 · Health
Other$144,967Crime & Legal$59,000Human Services$31,088Health$18,683

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLAKE COUNTY CRISIS CENTER: $144,967 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSafer Foundation: $51,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREMEDIES RENEWING LIVES: $13,610 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSARAH'S INN: $12,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFAMILY RESCUE INC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE: $8,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE NETWORK ADVOCATING AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $6,088 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetILLINOIS COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $5,073 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Chicago Foundation fo…Polk Bros Foundation …Arie and Ida Crown Me…The Chicago Community…Illinois Coalition Ag…Michael Reese Health …United Way of Metropo…AbbVie FoundationCharities Aid Foundat…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…
Chicago Foundation for WomenIL15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Chicago Foundation for Women · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · The Chicago Community Trust · Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence · Michael Reese Health Trust · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ascend Justice funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ascend Justice. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 8 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Ascend Justice’s filings →

    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 endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home