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Common Counsel Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Common Counsel Foundation

COMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION advances equity and environmental health through a combination of direct grant making and strategic philanthropic advising for client member funds and manages projects focused on organizational development, leadership sustainability, and donor education.

$101M
Granted FY2024still arriving
621
Grants FY2024still arriving
46
States reached
$37M
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.

Philanthropy$48MCivil Rights$48MCommunity Improvement$24MEnvironment$20MArts & Culture$12MHuman Services$9.3MFood & Nutrition$6.2MHousing & Shelter$5.2MOther$0
02FY2024 · 621 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $53k
  • $10k–50k414 grants · $10M
  • $50k–250k160 grants · $13M
  • $250k+39 grants · $77M
$30,000
Median grant
46
States reached
$67M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
IMPACTASSETSINC$37,233,011
MOVEMENT 4 BLACK LIVES INC$15,817,927
NATIVE LAND CONSERVANCY INC$4,000,000
THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC$2,500,000
NEO PHILANTHROPY INC$1,500,000
RESIST$1,100,000
LIGHTHOUSE HOLYOKE$1,000,000
FREEDOM ORG$1,000,000
EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE$1,000,000
SOCIAL GOOD FUND$1,000,000
NDN COLLECTIVE INC$750,000
AMALGAMATED CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC$719,900
CENTER FOR THIRD WORLD ORGANIZING$540,000
GROUNDSWELL FUND$500,000
OCCIDENTAL ARTS & ECOLOGY CENTER$500,000
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 (FY20–24, $19.3M) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 92% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HOPI TUTSKWA PERMACULTUTE INSTITUTE: $58k → 26%NORTHEAST NATIVE NETWORK OF KINSHIP: $250k → 8%NEBRASKA INDIAN CHILD WELFARE COALITION INC: $87k → 16%FLYING SQUIRREL COMMUNITY SPACE: $85k → 14%AUSTIN JUSTICE COALITION: $85k → 10%TEWA WOMEN UNITED: $120k → 12%ONE LOVE GLOBAL INC: $78k → 16%UNITED WOMEN OF COLOR: $85k → 11%EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $1.0M → 18%METCALFE PARK COMMUNITY BRIDGES INC: $138k → 17%SANCTUARY IN THE CITY: $160k → 10%COOPERATION JACKSON OF MISSISSIPPI: $100k → 23%REAL FOOD AMERICA: $90k → 6%AFFECT REAL CHANGE INC: $93k → 24%CASA FAMILIAR INC: $150k → 11%EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $440k → 18%MOVING MOUNTAINS INCORPORATED: $100k → 10%METCALFE PARK COMMUNITY BRIDGES INC: $71k → 17%FILIPINO ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE: $65k → 10%EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $55k → 18%THE KNIGHTS & ORCHIDS SOCIETY: $97k → 33%METCALFE PARK COMMUNITY BRIDGES INC: $57k → 17%FREEDOM INC: $506k → 10%THE CITY SCHOOL INC: $85k → 16%POSSIBILITY LABS: $371k → 10%SMILE TRUST THE: $100k → 15%FREEDOM INC: $57k → 10%BARRED BUSINESS FOUNDATION: $123k → 14%RUNNING STRONG: $53k → 6%BARRED BUSINESS FOUNDATION: $78k → 14%OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $120k → 9%EARTHLODGE CENTER FOR TRANSFORMATION INC: $85k → 14%SMILE TRUST THE: $300k → 15%SMILE TRUST THE: $75k → 15%EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $159k → 14%WE THE PEOPLE OF DETROIT: $300k → 21%EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $113k → 14%EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $71k → 14%TODEC LEGAL CENTER: $85k → 11%TODEC LEGAL CENTER: $55k → 11%THE GEORGIA COALITION FOR THE PEOPLES AGENDA INC: $60k → 13%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $2.5M → 17%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $2.5M → 17%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $2.0M → 17%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $712k → 17%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $520k → 17%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $300k → 17%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $130k → 17%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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 25% of Common Counsel Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Common Counsel Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$111M · 449 repeat orgs$36M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +15% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

449 repeat relationships: 262 still active in FY2024, 187 since wound down; 156 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

449
265

Total granted

$111M
$8.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
0%

Still filing today

92%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentCivil RightsEducationOther
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

  • TA
    THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $8.7M · revenue +255% · 89% of their budget
  • Center for Third World Organizing
    5× · 2020–2024 · $5.9M · revenue +370% · 28% of their budget
  • NL
    NATIVE LAND CONSERVANCY INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $5.1M · revenue ×87 · 62% of their budget

Funded once

  • POSSIBILITY LABSgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $371k · revenue ×142 · 98% of their budget
  • GF
    GIRLS FOR A CHANGE
    one grant, 2023 · $250k · revenue 0%
  • NN
    NORTHEAST NATIVE NETWORK OF KINSHIP AND
    one grant, 2023 · $250k · revenue -44%
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
Indigenous Women Rising Indigeous Women Rising
—
2
Amazon Watch Inc

To protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous communities in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon Basin's…

Environment
3
Forward Together

Forward Together is a national reproductive justice organization that centers people, families, and communities who experience reproductive oppression. They prioritize queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and other peoples of color and utilize…

Health
4
Washington Indian Civil Rights Commission

Washington Indian Civil Rights Commission is led by and for Indigenous people, and envisions a just society in which we are treated with honor, fairness and respect. Our mission is to uphold our individual civil rights through education…

Human Services
5
The Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation

We are a Native-led Indigenous rights organization. We are dedicated to our mission of protecting & revitalizing Indigenous cultures, empowering them in the direct application of their traditional knowledge & practices on their ancestral…

Arts & Culture
6
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
7
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
8
Centro Binacional Para El Desarrollo Indigena Oaxaqueno

Building Indigenous power through collective action to achieve economic, social and cultural development.

International
9
Borderless Collective Inc

Borderless A Black & Indigenous Collective (B&I Collective Fund) is organized to build the collective power of Black and Indigenous Peoples or underprivileged groups to exercise their inherent right to self-determination, ownership, and…

Philanthropy
10
Indigenous Peoples Rights Inc

To lead and coordinate the global initiative to address and prevent criminalization, violence, and impunity against indigenous peoples towards strengthening their collectives, solidarity, and actions.

Human Services
11
Nature for Justice

To empower frontline communities to lead nature-based solutions that advance climate justice, ecosystem restoration, and resilient livelihoods through connecting locally-led initiatives to funding, markets, and technical support.

Environment
12
Right to Democracy Project

Advance democracy, equity, and self-determination in U.S. territories through participatory advocacy, narrative and cultural change, and ecosystem building.

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Demil Art Fund. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

830 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. 830 of the 897 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.

66
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
206
Early backer (in before they grew)
805/830
Grantees still filing
419/830
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

IMPACTASSETSINC: $37,233,011 · PhilanthropyIMPACTASSETSINCAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $5,448,083 · PhilanthropyAmalgamated Charitable Foundatio…Groundswell Fund: $2,110,000 · Philanthropy+8 more: $2,503,071 · PhilanthropyMovement 4 Black Lives Inc: $15,817,927 · Civil RightsMovement 4 Bla…CENTER FOR EMPOWERED POLITICS EDUCATION FUND: $1,080,000 · Civil RightsRIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE: $1,046,000 · Civil RightsBOLD TRAINING INSTITUTE INC: $745,000 · Civil Rights+7 more: $1,674,200 · Civil Rights+7 moreTHE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $8,707,000 · Human ServicesTHE ACCOMPLI…EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $1,625,000 · Human ServicesEKVNV YEFOLE…FREEDOM INC: $658,500 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER: $608,357 · Human Services+23 more: $5,948,310 · Human Services+23 moreBLACK FARMER FUND INC: $3,700,000 · Community ImprovementBLACK FAR…FREEDOM ORG: $2,500,465 · Community ImprovementFREEDOM O…NDN COLLECTIVE INC: $830,000 · Community ImprovementNDN COLLE…POWER CALIFORNIA: $778,200 · Community ImprovementPOWER CAL…INQUIRING SYSTEMS INC: $753,000 · Community ImprovementINQUIRING…FAITH IN THE VALLEY: $615,000 · Community ImprovementNATIVE MOVEMENT: $525,000 · Community Improvement+16 more: $3,892,450 · Community Improvement+16 moreNATIVE LAND CONSERVANCY INC: $5,060,000 · EnvironmentNATIVE LA…HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $2,295,257 · EnvironmentHIGHLANDE…SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $1,639,857 · EnvironmentSOCIAL AN…Medicine Bowl Giving Circle Inc: $1,050,000 · EnvironmentMedicine …DAKOTA RESOURCE COUNCIL: $699,000 · EnvironmentOccidental Arts and Ecology Center: $500,000 · Environment+10 more: $2,108,000 · Environment+10 moreRESIST INC: $3,715,000 · OtherRESIST INCBUFFALO GO GREEN INC: $2,200,000 · OtherCenter for Third World Organizing: $5,923,108 · OtherCenter for Third World Organi…NEO Philanthropy Inc: $3,137,500 · OtherNEO Philanthropy Inc+86 more: $28,046,389 · Other+86 moreACORN Center For Restoration & Freedom: $1,253,772 · Arts & CultureLIGHTWORKS COLLECTIVE INC: $1,000,000 · Arts & CultureSonrisas Inc: $720,000 · Arts & CultureARTORG STUDIOS INCORPORATED: $529,500 · Arts & CultureALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $506,010 · Arts & CultureDANCERS GROUP: $400,000 · Arts & CultureBOREALIS PHILANTHROPY: $370,000 · Arts & CultureBlack Feminist Future Inc: $296,000 · Arts & CultureLITTLE MANILA RISING: $290,000 · Arts & CultureMemphis Artists for Change: $273,000 · Arts & CultureMOVEMENT ALLIANCE PROJECT: $270,000 · Arts & Culture+11 more: $2,029,540 · Arts & Culture
Philanthropy$47,294,165Civil Rights$20,363,127Human Services$17,547,167Community Improvement$13,594,115Environment$13,352,114Other$43,021,997Arts & Culture$7,937,822

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetIMPACTASSETSINC: $37,233,011 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetMovement 4 Black Lives Inc: $15,817,927 over 1y, 99% of budgetTHE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $8,707,000 over 3y, 89% of budgetCenter for Third World Organizing: $5,923,108 over 5y, 28% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $5,448,083 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetNATIVE LAND CONSERVANCY INC: $5,060,000 over 5y, 62% of budgetRESIST INC: $3,715,000 over 5y, 9.0% of budgetBLACK FARMER FUND INC: $3,700,000 over 3y, 59% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $3,137,500 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetFREEDOM ORG: $2,500,465 over 3y, 89% of budgetHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $2,295,257 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetBUFFALO GO GREEN INC: $2,200,000 over 2y, 63% of budgetGroundswell Fund: $2,110,000 over 5y, 3.7% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $1,639,857 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetEKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $1,625,000 over 5y, 10.0% of budgetACCE Institute: $1,374,400 over 5y, 8.2% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $1,302,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetHAYMARKET PEOPLE'S FUND INC: $1,260,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetACORN Center For Restoration & Freedom: $1,253,772 over 3y, 54% of budgetPROTEUS FUND INC: $1,125,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetCENTER FOR EMPOWERED POLITICS EDUCATION FUND: $1,080,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetMedicine Bowl Giving Circle Inc: $1,050,000 over 3y, 56% of budgetRIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE: $1,046,000 over 5y, 4.6% of budgetLIGHTWORKS COLLECTIVE INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 46% of budgetNDN COLLECTIVE INC: $830,000 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetPOWER CALIFORNIA: $778,200 over 5y, 5.4% of budgetINQUIRING SYSTEMS INC: $753,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetBOLD TRAINING INSTITUTE INC: $745,000 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $737,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSonrisas Inc: $720,000 over 5y, 78% of budgetPUEBLO UNIDO CDC: $700,200 over 5y, 19% of budgetDAKOTA RESOURCE COUNCIL: $699,000 over 5y, 38% of budgetFREEDOM INC: $658,500 over 3y, 7.0% of budgetFAITH IN THE VALLEY: $615,000 over 4y, 18% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $608,357 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetARISE INC: $605,000 over 5y, 33% of budgetSAJE: $602,200 over 5y, 10% of budgetCommunity Aid and Development Corp: $531,625 over 4y, 31% of budgetVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: $530,000 over 3y, 23% of budgetARTORG STUDIOS INCORPORATED: $529,500 over 5y, 93% of budgetNATIVE MOVEMENT: $525,000 over 5y, 3.1% of budgetTHE SMILE TRUST: $520,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $506,010 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetLEADERSHIP COUNSEL FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY: $501,200 over 4y, 5.3% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION SAN FRANCISCO STATE: $500,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE PARTNERSHIP FOR INCLUSIVE DISASTER STRATEGIES: $500,000 over 1y, 42% of budgetWESTERN STATES CENTER: $500,000 over 3y, 6.8% of budgetOccidental Arts and Ecology Center: $500,000 over 1y, 7.6% 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.

Amalgamated Charitabl…Solidaire Network IncNdn Collective IncBorealis PhilanthropyGroundswell FundNovo FoundationProteus Fund IncFirst Nations Develop…Seventh Generation Fu…Rsf Social Finance IncMovement Strategy Cen…NEO Philanthropy Inc
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC130.1× affinity344 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Solidaire Network Inc · Ndn Collective Inc · Borealis Philanthropy · Groundswell Fund · Novo Foundation · Proteus Fund Inc · First Nations Development Institute · Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Movement Strategy Center · NEO Philanthropy 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Common Counsel Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Common Counsel Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 160%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Northeast Native Network of Kinship and: 44% of income from government
  • Retreat Farm Ltd: 25% of income from government
  • The Farm School Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Tulsa Community Foundation: 11% of income from government
  • Public Justice Center Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Resist Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Sonrisas Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
16get no government money at all
52report 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 897 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 Common Counsel’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