How much does Children's Defense Fund give?

Children's Defense Fund reported 34 grants totaling $7,061,812 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 17 and 34 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.

What does Children's Defense Fund fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Public Benefit (25%), Education (21%), Human Services (13%).

Who are Children's Defense Fund's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: National League of Cities Institute Inc ($2.2M), Center for the Study of Social Policy ($1.5M), Save The Children Federation Inc ($1.3M).

Does Children's Defense Fund fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Children's Defense Fund?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include New Venture Fund, Unidosus, The George Gund Foundation.

Where is Children's Defense Fund based?

Children's Defense Fund is based in DC.

Foundation Dossiers Mostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

Washington, D.C. · Public charity

Children's Defense Fund

CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND envisions a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being, and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive.

$7.1M
Granted FY2024(still arriving): 34
Grants FY2024: 17
Organizations funded FY2023: 35%
First-time grantees FY2023

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2024: $40,000
Largest grant, FY2024: $1,414,666
Organizations funded a year: 17 to 34; FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024: 18
Total assets, FY2024: $40M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 35% of the organizations Children's Defense Fund funded were first-time grantees, receiving 54% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 46% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.0M went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Community ImprovementHuman ServicesEducationCrime & LegalArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2024still arriving	33	$7.0M	58%
FY2023	17	$3.6M	35%
FY2022	28	$2.6M	39%
FY2021	21	$1.3M	52%
FY2020	34	$1.5M	82%
FY2017	17	$1.1M	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Public Benefit$4.4MEducation$3.6MHuman Services$2.2MCrime & Legal$1.9MCivil Rights$1.6MInternational$1.4MArts & Culture$701kCommunity Improvement$484kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
National League of Cities Institute Inc	$2,164,666	2	7%
Center for the Study of Social Policy	$1,488,166	3	14%
Save The Children Federation Inc	$1,344,666	2	0%
Unidosus	$1,320,000	2	1%
New Yorkers for Children Inc	$1,320,000	1	50%
Start Early	$948,000	2	0%
James B Hunt Jr Institute for Educational Leadership & Policy Fdn	$856,666	2	6%
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition	$677,680	5	2%
Academias la Paz	$675,385	5	2%
Texans Care For Children Inc	$674,625	6	15%

Show all 92 grantees

All grantees of Children's Defense Fund by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
National League of Cities Institute Inc	$2,164,666	2	7%
Center for the Study of Social Policy	$1,488,166	3	14%
Save The Children Federation Inc	$1,344,666	2	0%
Unidosus	$1,320,000	2	1%
New Yorkers for Children Inc	$1,320,000	1	50%
Start Early	$948,000	2	0%
James B Hunt Jr Institute for Educational Leadership & Policy Fdn	$856,666	2	6%
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition	$677,680	5	2%
Academias la Paz	$675,385	5	2%
Texans Care For Children Inc	$674,625	6	15%
Center for Public Policy Priorities	$670,875	6	5%
Youth Justice Coalition Inc	$614,401	5	8%
Friendship Academy of the Arts	$565,633	5	5%
The Connie Rice Institute for Urban Peace	$440,145	3	12%
Arts for Healing and Justice Network	$410,909	5	6%
Clean and Healthy New York	$363,834	4	31%
Children's Defense Fund	$269,984	2	1%
Various Hats Inc	$193,000	2	n/a
Community Partners	$160,000	2	0%
Minneapolis Public School	$154,616	1	n/a
Bama Kids Inc	$113,400	2	35%
Policy Matters Ohio	$110,000	2	4%
Mississippi Center for Justice	$100,000	1	2%
Science Museum of Minnesota	$97,556	4	0%
Focushope	$94,701	1	0%
Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church	$73,851	1	n/a
Read Lead	$69,450	1	n/a
Southwest Ga Project for Community Education Inc	$67,100	1	8%
Kids Win Missouri	$50,000	1	1%
People United for Sustainable Housing Inc	$50,000	1	1%
Texas Impact Education Fund	$43,000	2	8%
United Way of Tarrant County	$40,000	2	0%
East Texas Human Needs Network	$40,000	2	10%
Panhandle Community Services	$40,000	2	0%
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc	$40,000	1	1%
Community Partners for Real Lead	$35,000	1	n/a
Hola Ohio	$30,000	1	3%
Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment	$27,300	1	0%
Innovation Ohio Education Fund	$25,400	1	4%
The Oakland Public Education Fund	$25,000	1	0%
Fayette County Family Resource Network Inc	$25,000	1	12%
Avance Inc	$25,000	1	n/a
Child Development Consortium of Los Angeles Inc	$25,000	1	0%
Adelante Mujeres	$25,000	1	0%
United Way of Greater Knoxvilleinc	$25,000	1	0%
Chuckanut Health Foundation	$25,000	1	1%
Erie Neighborhood House	$25,000	1	0%
Loving Hands Educational Services LLC	$24,083	1	n/a
Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative	$22,500	1	n/a
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota	$22,246	2	0%
Causewave Community Partners Inc	$20,000	2	1%
Project Vida Health Center	$20,000	1	0%
Faith in Public Life Inc	$20,000	1	0%
Georgetown University	$20,000	1	0%
La Union del Pueblo Entero	$20,000	1	1%
LA Wellness Station	$19,950	1	n/a
Ohio Womens Alliance	$19,285	1	5%
Detroit Service Learning Academy	$18,050	1	n/a
Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition Inc	$17,000	1	3%
Detroit Public Schools Community District	$16,299	1	n/a
Change the World Challenge Organization	$16,000	2	n/a
Destiny Community Development	$15,560	1	n/a
The Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development	$15,000	1	0%
United Way of Greater Cincinnati	$15,000	1	0%
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress	$14,630	1	n/a
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care	$12,000	1	3%
Rebuilding the Village	$12,000	2	20%
Youth Represent Inc	$12,000	1	0%
Provider Enrichment Services	$11,100	1	n/a
Greater Cleveland Neighborhood Centers	$10,800	1	n/a
Saint Paul Public Schools	$10,000	1	n/a
Roberts Family Development Center	$10,000	1	0%
Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation	$10,000	1	0%
City University of New York	$10,000	1	n/a
WOC Group LLC	$9,750	1	n/a
El Colegio Charter School	$9,647	1	1%
Velocity Public Affairs Inc	$9,000	1	n/a
Lacroix-Dalluhn Consulting LLC	$8,756	1	n/a
Division of Indian Work	$8,141	1	n/a
New Faith Community	$7,500	1	n/a
Bethel Baptist Church East	$7,500	1	n/a
Evangelical United Church of Christ	$7,500	1	n/a
United Methodist Church of Green Trails	$7,500	1	n/a
Quinn Chapel Ame Church	$7,500	1	n/a
Northeast Ohio Alliance for Hope	$6,700	1	3%
Why Cant We Make A Difference	$6,186	1	3%
Eliza Bryant Village	$6,150	1	0%
Hispanics Avanzando Hispanics -- DBA Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati Foundation	$5,988	1	6%
Kevin Easton Odonnell	$5,875	1	n/a
Faith Community Church	$5,250	1	n/a
Public Counsel	$5,000	1	0%
Success in Challenges Inc	$5,000	1	1%

Children's Defense Fund supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 63 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 63.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

New Venture FundDC28.5× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: New Venture Fund · Unidosus · The George Gund Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Episcopal Health Foundation · Community Catalyst Inc · The Ford Foundation · The Cleveland Foundation · Windward Fund · Ohio Voice · Mt Sinai Health Care Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation 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.

Compare Children's Defense Fund with peer funders

About Children's Defense Fund

How much does Children's Defense Fund give?: Children's Defense Fund reported 34 grants totaling $7,061,812 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 17 and 34 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does Children's Defense Fund fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Public Benefit (25%), Education (21%), Human Services (13%).
Who are Children's Defense Fund's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: National League of Cities Institute Inc ($2.2M), Center for the Study of Social Policy ($1.5M), Save The Children Federation Inc ($1.3M).
Does Children's Defense Fund fund new organizations?: In FY2023, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Children's Defense Fund?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include New Venture Fund, Unidosus, The George Gund Foundation.
Where is Children's Defense Fund based?: Children's Defense Fund is based in DC.