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Bay Area Legal Aid at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Bay Area Legal Aid

Baylegal provides free civil legal services to low-income residents of san francisco bay area to address legal barriers to housing, healthcare, personal safety, financial independence and stability so to escape poverty.

$3.9M
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$1.8M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its 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, FY2017 to 2024.

Crime & Legal$9.8MHousing & Shelter$5.1MHuman Services$2.1MHealth$197k
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $92k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $183k
  • $250k+3 grants · $3.6M
$183,094
Median grant
1
States reached
$24M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO THE ELDERLY$1,763,127
THE JUSTICE & DIVERSITY CENTER - HAP$1,374,917
CENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA$482,961
LAW FOUNDATION OF SILICON VALLEY$183,094
LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY$39,795
WESTERN CENTER ON LAW & POVERTY$21,665
NATIONAL HEALTH LAW PROGRAM$17,639
LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO INC$13,104
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 (FY18–23, $84k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Safe Alternatives to Violent Environment: $27k → 10%Safe Alternatives to Violent Environment: $12k → 10%SAFE ALTERNATIVES TO VIOLENT EVIRONMENT: $12k → 10%Safe Alternatives to Violent Environment: $12k → 10%Safe Alternatives to Violent Environment: $11k → 10%Safe Alternatives to Violent Environment: $11k → 10%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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$17M · 15 repeat orgs$625k to everyone else

15 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
2

Total granted

$17M
$142k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+73%
+270%

Still filing today

87%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $483k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Crime & LegalHealthCivil RightsHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterPublic Safety & DisasterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • LA
    Legal Assistance to the Elderly
    8× · 2017–2024 · $8.2M · revenue +555% · 49% of their budget
  • LA
    Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
    8× · 2017–2024 · $314k · revenue +85%
  • Western Center on Law & Poverty Inc
    8× · 2017–2024 · $169k · revenue +55%

Funded once

  • HA
    HOUSING AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS ADVOCATESgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $113k · revenue +270%
  • CV
    Community Violence Solutionsgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $29k · revenue +101%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its 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
Center for Community Solutions

The mission is to end relationship and sexual violence by being a catalyst for caring communities and social justice. the vision is for all people to live full, free, expressive, and empowered lives in a safe, healthy, vibrant, and…

Health
2
California Center for Movement Legal Services

The California Center for Movement Legal Services (Movement Legal) provides legal services in the pursuit of improving the lives of California's traditionally underserved residents, carrying out legal work that fosters community led policy…

Crime & Legal
3
Legal Link

Legal Link removes legal barriers that prolong poverty by adding critically needed capacity to the legal ecosystem.

Crime & Legal
4
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area

As one of the most enduring civil rights institutions on the West Coast, we work to dismantle systems of oppression and racism, and build an equitable and just society.

—
5
Sexual Violence Law Center

Sexual Violence Law Center (SVLC) is a nonprofit law firm that protects the safety, privacy, and civil rights of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Washington through holistic and trauma-informed practices rooted in race and…

Human Services
6
Mental Health Advocacy Services Inc

The mission of Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS) is to protect and advance the legal rights of low-income adults and children with mental health disabilities and empower them to assert those rights in order to maximize their autonomy,…

Health
7
Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County

As a public interest law firm, NLSLA changes lives and transforms communities. Through a combination of individual representation, high impact litigation, and public policy advocacy, NLSLA combats the immediate and long-lasting effects of…

—
8
Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco Inc

The Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco is dedicated to combating the displacement crisis gripping our city by building the power of working-class tenants of color to take on the real estate industry and win housing justice for all.…

Education
9
Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto Inc

To provide transformative legal services that enable diverse communities in east palo alto and beyond to achieve a secure and thriving future.

Crime & Legal
10
Alameda County Homeless Action Center

HAC assists homeless and mentally ill clients in the long and difficult process of becoming eligible for SSI and MediCal benefits. HAC provides assistance with other public benefits that clients need in the interim to survive until their…

Housing & Shelter
11
La Raza Centro Legal - San Francisco

La Raza Centro Legal San Francisco provides high quality, highly trusted, free legal services to low-income or immigrant clients in the San Francisco Bay Area.

—
12
Casa de Esperanza

Casa is a refuge, providing protection and education for people caught in the cylces of domestic violence, sexual assault and child assault. Casa is a healing community where women and children can receive the nurturing and support…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Justice and Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco; the most unlike its peers is Cora Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse. 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

16 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. 16 of the 18 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

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

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
14/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Legal Assistance to the Elderly: $8,168,178 · Crime & LegalLegal Assistance to the ElderlyCENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA: $482,961 · Crime & LegalLegal Aid Society of San Mateo County: $314,485 · Crime & Legal+3 more: $443,219 · Crime & LegalTHE JUSTICE & DIVERSITY CENTER - HAP: $6,746,829 · OtherTHE JUSTICE & DIVERSITY CENTER - HAP+5 more: $485,005 · Other+5 moreNATIONAL HEALTH LAW PROGRAM INC: $167,195 · HealthCommunity Violence Solutions: $29,472 · HealthHOUSING AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS ADVOCATES: $112,500 · Civil RightsSafe Alternatives To Violent Environments: $98,270 · Human ServicesEDEN COUNCIL FOR HOPE AND OPPORTUNITY: $64,414 · Housing & ShelterTHE JUSTICE AND DIVERSITY CENTER OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $27,715 · Public Safety & Disaster
Crime & Legal$9,408,843Other$7,231,834Health$196,667Civil Rights$112,500Human Services$98,270Housing & Shelter$64,414Public Safety & Disaster$27,715

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLegal Assistance to the Elderly: $8,168,178 over 8y, 49% of budgetCENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA: $482,961 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetLegal Aid Society of San Mateo County: $314,485 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetLaw Foundation of Silicon Valley: $231,505 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetWestern Center on Law & Poverty Inc: $169,214 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetNATIONAL HEALTH LAW PROGRAM INC: $167,195 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetHOUSING AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS ADVOCATES: $112,500 over 1y, 12% of budgetCORA Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse: $106,524 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $102,354 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetSafe Alternatives To Violent Environments: $98,270 over 7y, 1.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY SOLUTIONS FOR CHILDREN FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS: $86,213 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetPublic Interest Law Project: $42,500 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetCommunity Violence Solutions: $29,472 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS FKA NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS: $28,273 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE JUSTICE AND DIVERSITY CENTER OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $27,715 over 2y, 0.3% 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.

The San Francisco Fou…Kaiser Foundation Hos…Sunlight GivingCalifornia Access to …United Way of the Bay…Silicon Valley Commun…Munger Tolles & Olson…Pinpoint FoundationThe Wilson Sonsini Go…The Morrison & Foerst…Equal Justice WorksThe Sobrato Family Fo…
The San Francisco FoundationCA23.7× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Sunlight Giving · California Access to Justice Commission · United Way of the Bay Area · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Munger Tolles & Olson Foundation · Pinpoint Foundation · The Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation · The Morrison & Foerster Foundation · Equal Justice Works · The Sobrato Family Foundation

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 Bay Area Legal Aid funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bay Area Legal Aid. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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 18 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Bay Area Legal Aid’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