· Public charity
Columbus Bar Foundation
The COLUMBUS BAR FOUNDATION is a 501(c)(3) organization and is classified as a 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(a)(vi) public charity that, in partnership with the columbus bar association, is committed to promoting: access to justice by all citizens public education about the law and the judicial system innovation in the administration of…
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2025
- $10k–50k4 grants · $109k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $73k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| OHIO JUSTICE FOUNDATION | $73,066 |
| COMMUNITY MEDIATION SERVICES OF CENTRAL OHIO | $37,500 |
| LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF METROPOLITAN COLUMBUS | $30,000 |
| LAW AND LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE | $28,000 |
| CAPITAL UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL | $13,145 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY20–20, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 33% of Columbus Bar Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in OH; by stated purpose, 67%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $103k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TLTHE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF COLUMBUS7× · 2017–2023 · $1.1M · revenue +108%
- LALaw and Leadership Institute LLC9× · 2017–2025 · $382k · revenue +34%
- CMCommunity Mediation Services of Central Ohio9× · 2017–2025 · $313k · revenue +8%
Funded once
- AIALVIS INCone grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +23%
THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INCgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +27%- PBPRO BONO PARTNERSHIP OF OHIOgraduatedone grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +42%
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.
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.
The ohio state bar association (the "association") is an unincorporated voluntary non-profit organization. the association was formed to promote justice and advance the interests of the legal profession.
Toledo Legal Aid Society provides legal representation for indigent clients that are charged with criminal, traffic, or juvenile offenses for which the penalty or any possible adjudication includes the potential loss of liberty.
To resolve serious legal problems of low income people, to promote economic and family stability, and reduce poverty through effective legal assistance.
To promote professional excellence, foster justice, serve our members and educate the public.
Legal aid of western ohio, inc. (lawo) is a non-profit law firm that champions equity and justice through client-centered community collaboration and transformative legal advocacy.
The columbus bar foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization and is classified as a 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(a)(vi) public charity that, in partnership with the columbus bar association, is committed to promoting: access to justice by all…
The mission of legal aid of southeast and central ohio (lasco) is to provide civil legal aid and advocacy to overcome unfairness and injustice to reduce poverty and increase opportunity. lasco offers free noncriminal legal help for people…
The mission of Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center (OCVJC) is to ensure that the constitutional and statutory rights of Ohio crime victims are protected and enforced in state and federal jurisdictions in all 88 Ohio counties. To fulfill this…
Provide comprehensive services that benefit the financial institution industry in ohio.
To create fair, intelligent, redemptive criminal justice systems through zealous client-centered advocacy, innovative policy reform and cross-sector community education.
See schedule o.legal aid's mission is to secure justice, equity and access to opportunity for and with people who have low incomes through passionate legal representation and advocacy for systematic change.
Advocates for basic legal equality, inc. (able) is a non-profit law firm that provides high quality legal assistance in civil matters to help eligible low-income individuals and groups in western ohio achieve self-reliance, and equal…
How this is measured
14 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. 14 of the 17 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF COLUMBUS ↗
- Who funds Law and Leadership Institute LLC ↗
- Who funds Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio ↗
- Who funds THE COLUMBUS BAR ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds OHIO LEGAL HELP ↗
- Who funds Ohio Access to Justice Foundation ↗
- Who funds League of Women Voters of Metro Columbus ↗
- Who funds CAPITAL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds ALVIS INC ↗
- Who funds THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC ↗
- Who funds PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP OF OHIO ↗
- Who funds ATHLETIC CLUB OF COLUMBUS ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF CASA OF FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO ↗
- Who funds TOLEDO BAR ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: L Brands Foundation · Columbus Foundation · Ohio State Bar Foundation · American Electric Power Foundation · Harry C Moores Foundation · Cardinal Health Foundation · The Dayton Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Columbus Bar Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Columbus Bar Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Columbus Bar Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Columbus Bar Foundation 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.
Play a game based on Columbus Bar’s filings →