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California Changelawyers at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

California Changelawyers

To build a better justice system for all californians.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
24
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$80k
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$3.7MCivil Rights$558kEducation$228kArts & Culture$70kYouth Development$45kEnvironment$40kReligion$20kPublic Safety & Disaster$18k
02FY2024 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 24 grants below total $691,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,092,230 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $400,730 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 · FY2024

  • $10k–50k22 grants · $532k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $160k
$40,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$4.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA$80,000
FOR THE PEOPLE$80,000
EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS$41,500
EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY$40,000
ESQ APPRENTICE INC$40,000
ECOLOGISTICS INC$40,000
CALIFORNIA INDIAN LAW ASSOCIATION INC$40,000
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION FUND FOR JUSTICE AND EDUCATION$40,000
LEGAL EDUCATION ACCESS PIPELINE$40,000
APPELLATE PROJECT INC$40,000
CENTER FOR GENDER AND REFUGEE STUDIES - CALIFORNIA INC$40,000
CALIFORNIA COLLABORATIVE FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE$40,000
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES$20,000
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY$10,000
VETERANS LEGAL INSTITUTE$10,000
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 (FY17–19, $98k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 90% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%La Luz Center: $10k → 9%Al Otro Lado: $80k → 14%Esperanza Immigr Rights Proj: $8k → 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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.8M · 48 repeat orgs$794k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +59% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

48 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2024, 30 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

48
37

Total granted

$3.8M
$644k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+26%

Still filing today

98%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $150k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
Crime & LegalCivil RightsEducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • Transgender Law Center
    3× · 2017–2023 · $225k · revenue +202%
  • DR
    DISABILITY RIGHTS CALIFORNIA
    4× · 2020–2023 · $212k · revenue +31%
  • FT
    FOR THE PEOPLE
    5× · 2019–2024 · $210k · revenue +324%

Funded once

  • AO
    AL OTRO LADOgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $80k · revenue +101%
  • CR
    CA Rural Legal Assistance Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $70k
  • KIND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $65k · revenue +358%
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
Legal Link

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

Crime & Legal
2
California Lawyers Foundation

The California Lawyers Foundation shares a common mission with the California Lawyers Association of promoting excellence, diversity, and inclusion in the legal profession and fairness in the administration of justice and the rule of law.…

Education
3
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
4
Community Lawyers Inc

Community Lawyers, Inc. provides underserved low- and no-income community members access to legal representation, pro-bono legal clinics, and community advocacy and engagement.

Crime & Legal
5
Counsel for Justice

CFJ promotes access to justice for underserved communities seeking to assert their legal rights. Our pro bono-based projects bridge the gap for underserved communities seeking safety, stability, and justice. CFJ engages volunteer attorneys…

—
6
Southern California Immigration Project

Southern California Immigration Project is a public interest nonprofit organization dedicated to providing pro bono legal services to survivors of human and civil rights violations.

International
7
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.

—
8
Civil Liberties Defense Center

CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFENSE CENTER (CLDC) educates the general public about their rights and privileges under the US Constitution and provides free legal support to climate and social justice activists.

Civil Rights
9
Legal Aid Justice Center

The legal aid justice center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.

Crime & Legal
10
Community Legal Services

Community Legal Services was established to ensure the best interests of the public are represented by participating and intervening before the California Public Utilities Commission, and all other municipal, state, or federal regulatory…

Crime & Legal
11
Legal Aid Association of California

The Legal Aid Association of California, the statewide membership of legal services nonprofits, serves its members through advocacy and other support in efforts to provide legal assistance to low-income Californians and ensure access to…

—
12
Asian Law Caucus

The Asian Law Caucus's mission is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist…

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Legal Aid Socal; the most unlike its peers is Ecologistics Inc. 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

85 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 85 of the 92 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
85/85
Grantees still filing
68/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FOR THE PEOPLE: $210,000 · Crime & LegalFOR THE PEOPLEUNCOMMON LAW: $168,574 · Crime & LegalUNCOMMON LAWCALIFORNIA RURAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE INC: $157,485 · Crime & LegalCALIFORNIA RURAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE INCAmerican Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education: $130,000 · Crime & LegalAmerican Bar Association Fund for Justice and Educat…Inland Counties Legal Services: $119,262 · Crime & LegalInland Counties Legal ServicesEQUAL JUSTICE WORKS: $106,500 · Crime & LegalEAST BAY COMMUNITY LAW CENTER: $105,548 · Crime & LegalLEGAL EDUCATION ACCESS PIPELINE INC: $100,000 · Crime & LegalYOUTH LAW CENTER: $100,000 · Crime & LegalLEGAL SERVICES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $88,317 · Crime & LegalPUBLIC COUNSEL: $84,943 · Crime & LegalCENTRAL CALIFORNIA LEGAL SERVICES INC: $82,077 · Crime & LegalImmigrant Defenders Law Center: $75,000 · Crime & Legal+26 more: $626,801 · Crime & Legal+26 moreCALIFORNIA COLLABORATIVE FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE: $200,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA COLLABORATIVE FO…ORANGE COUNTY JUSTICE FUND: $100,000 · OtherORANGE COUNTY JUSTICE FUNDLawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area: $91,047 · OtherLawyers Committee for Civil…CA Rural Legal Assistance Inc: $70,000 · OtherCA Rural Legal Assistance I…REGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIA: $62,500 · OtherREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIALEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $59,496 · OtherBET TZEDEK: $45,055 · OtherTIDES ADVOCACY: $40,000 · OtherALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $39,533 · OtherNeighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County: $38,310 · OtherESQ Apprentice Inc: $80,000 · OtherESQ Apprentice IncCenter For Youth Development Through Law: $55,000 · OtherECOLOGISTICS INC: $40,000 · Other+17 more: $223,633 · Other+17 moreTransgender Law Center: $225,000 · Civil RightsTransgender Law…DISABILITY RIGHTS CALIFORNIA: $211,615 · Civil RightsDISABILITY RIGH…COMMUNITY JUSTICE ALLIANCE INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsCOMMUNITY JUSTI…Center For Gender And Refugee Studies- California Inc: $40,000 · Civil RightsCenter For Gend…Equal Justice Society: $40,000 · Civil RightsEqual Justice S…+4 more: $36,595 · Civil Rights+4 moreAppellate Project Inc: $80,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA INDIAN LAW ASSOCIATION INC: $77,500 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $50,000 · EducationLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $45,000 · EducationUniversity of San Francisco: $40,000 · EducationSAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationUCLA FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Education+1 more: $5,000 · EducationTHE JUSTICE AND DIVERSITY CENTER OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $160,000 · Public Safety & DisasterCOUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS CALIFORNIA: $85,000 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBAL COUNCIL: $40,000 · Arts & CultureAL OTRO LADO: $80,000 · Human ServicesLA LUZ CENTER: $10,000 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF LOS ANGELES INC: $7,500 · Human Services
Crime & Legal$2,154,507Other$1,144,574Civil Rights$653,210Education$347,500Public Safety & Disaster$160,000Arts & Culture$125,000Human Services$97,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTransgender Law Center: $225,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetDISABILITY RIGHTS CALIFORNIA: $211,615 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetFOR THE PEOPLE: $210,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetCALIFORNIA COLLABORATIVE FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE: $200,000 over 3y, 55% of budgetUNCOMMON LAW: $168,574 over 3y, 6.0% of budgetTHE JUSTICE AND DIVERSITY CENTER OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $160,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA RURAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE INC: $157,485 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetAmerican Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education: $130,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetInland Counties Legal Services: $119,262 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE WORKS: $106,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEAST BAY COMMUNITY LAW CENTER: $105,548 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetLEGAL EDUCATION ACCESS PIPELINE INC: $100,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetCOMMUNITY JUSTICE ALLIANCE INC: $100,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetYOUTH LAW CENTER: $100,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetORANGE COUNTY JUSTICE FUND: $100,000 over 2y, 27% of budgetLawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area: $91,047 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetLEGAL SERVICES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $88,317 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCOUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS CALIFORNIA: $85,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetPUBLIC COUNSEL: $84,943 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCENTRAL CALIFORNIA LEGAL SERVICES INC: $82,077 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAL OTRO LADO: $80,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetAppellate Project Inc: $80,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetESQ Apprentice Inc: $80,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetCALIFORNIA INDIAN LAW ASSOCIATION INC: $77,500 over 5y, 33% of budgetImmigrant Defenders Law Center: $75,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY LEGAL AID SOCAL: $69,556 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetKIND INC: $65,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $59,496 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA: $55,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCenter For Youth Development Through Law: $55,000 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBET TZEDEK: $45,055 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $45,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $40,245 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBAL COUNCIL: $40,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetECOLOGISTICS INC: $40,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetCenter For Gender And Refugee Studies- California Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetEqual Justice Society: $40,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTIDES ADVOCACY: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of San Francisco: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLegal Aid at Work: $39,964 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $39,533 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLegal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles: $38,985 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetInner City Law Center: $38,832 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNeighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County: $38,310 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPUBLIC LAW CENTER: $37,438 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetGreater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc: $34,516 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

California Access to …Equal Justice WorksThe Morrison & Foerst…The California Endowm…The California Wellne…Munger Tolles & Olson…The San Francisco Fou…California Community …The Wilson Sonsini Go…Weingart FoundationEast Bay Community Fo…The Skadden Foundation
California Access to Justice CommissionCA88.6× affinity40 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Access to Justice Commission · Equal Justice Works · The Morrison & Foerster Foundation · The California Endowment · The California Wellness Foundation · Munger Tolles & Olson Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · California Community Foundation · The Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation · Weingart Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · The Skadden 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 California Changelawyers funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from California Changelawyers. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    48report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 92 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 California Changelawyers’ 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