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California Federation of Teachers Legal Defense Fund at a glance

· Public charity

California Federation of Teachers Legal Defense Fund

The california federation of teachers has established a legal defense fund to support cases that particular affiliate local unions file against specific school districts.

$196k
Granted FY2024still arriving
3
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$164k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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$1.1MMembership Benefit$43kEducation$22kFood & Nutrition$20k
02FY2024 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $21k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $164k
$20,701
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216$164,485
UC-AFT LOCAL 1474$20,701
BUCKLEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION 4163$7,806
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 54% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%SAN MATEO COMMUNITY COLLEGE LOCAL 1493: $35k → 7%MISSION FED OF TEACHERS 6554: $31k → 8%PETALUMA FED OF TEACHERS AFT LOCAL 1091: $7k → 9%CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216: $164k → 10%NEWPORT MESA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: $27k → 10%USFFA AFT LOCAL 4269: $23k → 10%POWAY FED OF TEACHERS LOCAL 2357: $12k → 11%EL CAMINO COLLEGE FED OF TEACHERS 1388: $7k → 14%CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216: $81k → 14%SANTA CLARA FED OF TEACHERS: $9k → 8%VENTURA COUNTY FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: $18k → 10%ADJUNCT FACULTY UNITED LOCAL 6106: $34k → 10%USF FACULTY ASSOC 4269: $22k → 10%CULVER CITY FED OF TEACHERS LOCAL 1343: $12k → 14%CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216: $45k → 14%OXNARD FED OF TEACHERS & SCHOOL EMPLOYEES: $21k → 10%ADJUNCT FACULTY UNITED LOCAL 6106: $13k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO CC AFT: $38k → 10%CULVER CITY FED OF TEACHERS LOCAL 1343: $8k → 14%LOMPOC FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: $21k → 14%OXNARD FED OF TEACHERS & SCHOOL EMPLOYEES: $13k → 10%COAST FED OF CLASSIFIED EE 4794: $20k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO CC AFT: $35k → 10%EL RANCHO FED OF TEACHERS LOCAL 3467: $12k → 14%CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216: $11k → 14%OXNARD FED OF TEACHERS & SCHOOL EMPLOYEES: $12k → 10%CERRITOS COLLEGE FACULTY: $24k → 14%LOMPOC FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: $10k → 14%CERRITOS COLLEGE FACULTY FED LOCAL 6215: $22k → 14%CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216: $6k → 14%COMPTON CC AFT 3486: $35k → 14%ALLAN HANCOCK COLLEGE PT FAC LOCAL 6185: $9k → 14%LONG BEACH COUNCIL OF CLASSIFIED EE LOCAL 6108: $11k → 14%PART TIME FACULTY UNITED AT: $8k → 14%BUCKLEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION 4163: $13k → 14%BUCKLEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION 4163: $8k → 14%ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE LOCAL 4683: $60k → 14%UC-AFT ALL LOCALS: $28k → 14%ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE: $19k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 1474: $8k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 1474: $60k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 1990: $40k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 1474: $28k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 1474: $21k → 14%UNIVERSAL COUNCIL-AFT: $10k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 1474: $10k → 14%UC-AFT LOCAL 2226: $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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

42%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$510k · 8 repeat orgs$702k to everyone else

8 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
25

Total granted

$510k
$509k

Still filing today

13%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $193k went to new ones.

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

  • CA
    CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216
    4× · 2020–2023 · $143k
  • UL
    UC-AFT LOCAL 1474
    4× · 2020–2023 · $106k
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO CC AFT
    2× · 2021–2022 · $73k

Funded once

  • AV
    ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE LOCAL 4683
    one grant, 2023 · $60k
  • UL
    UC-AFT LOCAL 1990
    one grant, 2021 · $40k
  • CC
    COMPTON CC AFT 3486
    one grant, 2019 · $35k
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
04the grantee network

4 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. 4 of the 36 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
4/4
Grantees still filing
2/4
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216: $142,554 · OtherCARPINTERIA ASSOC OF UNITED EE 2216UC-AFT LOCAL 1474: $106,180 · OtherUC-AFT LOCAL 1474SAN FRANCISCO CC AFT: $73,277 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO CC AFTANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE LOCAL 4683: $59,768 · OtherANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE LOCAL 4683ADJUNCT FACULTY UNITED LOCAL 6106: $47,350 · OtherOXNARD FED OF TEACHERS & SCHOOL EMPLOYEES: $46,266 · OtherAmerican Federation of Teachers Cuesta College Federation Local 4909: $43,162 · OtherUC-AFT LOCAL 1990: $40,133 · OtherCOMPTON CC AFT 3486: $35,056 · OtherSAN MATEO COMMUNITY COLLEGE LOCAL 1493: $34,641 · Other+24 more: $410,595 · Other+24 moreCARPINTERIA ASSOCIATION UNITED SCHOOL EMPLOYEES AFT LOCAL 2216: $164,485 · EmploymentCARPINTERIA ASSO…THE BUCKLEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION: $7,806 · Employment
Other$1,038,982Employment$172,291

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCARPINTERIA ASSOCIATION UNITED SCHOOL EMPLOYEES AFT LOCAL 2216: $164,485 over 1y, 34% of budgetAmerican Federation of Teachers Cuesta College Federation Local 4909: $43,162 over 3y, 5.4% of budgetAmerican Federation of Teachers University Council - AFT: $20,701 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE BUCKLEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION: $7,806 over 1y, 11% 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.

  • Who funds CARPINTERIA ASSOCIATION UNITED SCHOOL EMPLOYEES AFT LOCAL 2216 ↗
  • Who funds American Federation of Teachers Cuesta College Federation Local 4909 ↗
  • Who funds American Federation of Teachers University Council - AFT ↗
  • Who funds THE BUCKLEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization California Federation of Teachers Legal Defense Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from California Federation of Teachers Legal Defense Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to California Federation of Teachers Legal Defense Fund?

    Find your warmest path to California Federation of Teachers Legal Defense Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    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 36 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

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    More from the funding graph

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    The endowment market
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    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
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