Skip to content
Plinth

· Public charity

Foundation II of the American College of Trial Lawyers Inc

The foundation was formed exclusively for charitable, educational, scientific, literary, and cultural purposes, including programs of research and education to improve the administration of justice, the special field of trial practice, and the delivery and quality of legal services to the people of the united states and canada and to…

$801k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What you fund
0174% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY20172025.

Crime & Legal$2.0MEducation$807kHuman Services$380kCommunity Improvement$70kYouth Development$70kPhilanthropy$60kHousing & Shelter$50kPublic Safety & Disaster$50kSocial Science$50kOther$1.3M
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 13 grants below total $779,240 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $801,321 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $22,081 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k10 grants · $713k
$50,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$8.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT$150,000
THE CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI$88,240
PUBLIC COUNSEL$75,000
NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY$75,000
GEORGIA RESOURCE CENTER$75,000
JUST THE BEGINNING$50,000
PROJECT ONE VET AT A TIME$50,000
DC VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION$50,000
SUZERAIN CAPITAL DEFENSE$50,000
NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE$35,000
ATLANTA VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOUNDATION$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA FOUNDATION$6,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $380k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 21% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Immigrant Legal Resource Center: $100k → 10%THE INNOCENCE PROJECT: $50k → 17%SUZERAIN CAPITAL DEFENSE: $50k → 11%PROJECT OVAT: $100k → 10%PROJECT ONE VET AT A TIME: $50k → 10%LOUISIANA APPLESEED: $30k → 23%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

MT
IL
NY
MA
WY
OH
PA
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NC
SC
DC
HI
LA
AL
GA
TX
FL

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

38%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.8M · 14 repeat orgs$3.0M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +36% since the first grant, against +18% for the ones you funded once.

14 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
45

Total granted

$1.8M
$2.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
+18%

Still filing today

93%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 17% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $644k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Crime & LegalEducationHuman ServicesCivil RightsYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • NC
    NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $265k · revenue +58%
  • RE
    REDEMPTION EARNED INC
    2× · 2022–2024 · $150k · revenue +210% · 34% of their budget
  • TC
    THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTH
    3× · 2017–2021 · $150k · revenue +184%

Funded once

  • TM
    THE MEDIATION CENTER OF THE PACIFIC INC
    one grant, 2024 · $150k · revenue -19%
  • IP
    INNOCENCE PROJECT NEW ORLEANS
    one grant, 2023 · $150k · revenue +4%
  • 2G
    2022 GUMPERT AWARD
    one grant, 2022 · $100k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
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
2
Office of the Appellate Defender

Oad strives to ensure that poor people convicted of felonies receive full and equal access to justice by providing exceptional appellate representation, improving the quality of indigent defense representation through education & training,…

Crime & Legal
3
Equal Justice Center

The Equal Justice Center is a non-profit law firm and employment justice organization which empowers low-income families, workers, and communities to achieve fair treatment in the workplace, in the justice system, and in our shared society…

Civil Rights
4
District of Columbia Access to Justice

Work with DC courts, private bar & legal services providers to increase legal representations for low & moderate income DC residents, enhance efficiency of legal services, and reduce barriers to the judicial system.

Crime & Legal
5
The Promise of Justice Initiative

The promise of justice initiative works to create positive change for people in the criminal legal system at the intersection of impact litigation, direct services and community engagement.

Crime & Legal
6
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area

As one of the most enduring civil rights institutions on the West Coast, we work to dismantle systems of oppression and racism, and build an equitable and just society.

7
Dc Bar Pro Bono Center

The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center provides free legal services through pro bono lawyers to low-income individuals, nonprofit organizations and small businesses primarily in the District of Columbia. The Pro Bono Center also recruits and trains…

8
Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association Inc

The mission of the volunteer lawyers project of the boston bar association is to increase access to justice by delivering high quality pro bono civil legal services to eligible clients in the greater boston area.

Crime & Legal
9
Afl-Cio Union Lawyers Alliance

Afl-cio union lawyers alliance was established to better the conditions of working men and women and their families by enhancing the quality of legal representation that is available to the afl-cio and the national and international unions…

10
Equal Justice Under Law

To provide legal assistance to people living in poverty in order to promote social welfare.

Crime & Legal
11
Los Angeles Innocence Project Inc

The purpose is to exonerate the wrongly convicted, uncover and remedy past misuse of evidence in the courtroom, and improve the dialogue among stakeholders in the criminal legal system to prevent future injustice.

Crime & Legal
12
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Immigrant Justice Corps Inc and the most unlike its peers is International Rule of Law Project Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyPolicy Research and AdvocacyMilitary Veterans SupportImmigrant Worker SupportDomestic Violence ServicesCommunity College Foundatio…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Health Access Advocacy and …Community Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 30 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%2%<5yr14%16%5–10yr19%18%10–20yr16%21%20–35yr13%25%35–55yr16%19%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%3%<5yr14%16%5–10yr19%14%10–20yr16%23%20–35yr13%29%35–55yr16%15%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 3% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 1% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/68
the rest of the field
13%
240,395/1,819,497

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

61 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 61 of the 70 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
59/61
Grantees still filing
37/61
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

INNOCENCE PROJECT NEW ORLEANS — $150,000 · Crime & LegalINNOCENCE PROJECT NEW ORLEANSREDEMPTION EARNED INC — $150,000 · Crime & LegalREDEMPTION EARNED INCTHE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTH — $150,000 · Crime & LegalTHE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTHGEORGIA JUSTICE PROJECT INC — $125,000 · Crime & LegalGEORGIA JUSTICE PROJECT INCJAMES D STCLAIR COURT PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT INC — $115,000 · Crime & LegalJAMES D STCLAIR COURT PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT…SECOND LOOK PROJECT — $100,000 · Crime & LegalTZEDEK DC INC — $100,000 · Crime & LegalARIZONA JUSTICE PROJECT — $100,000 · Crime & LegalPUBLIC JUSTICE CENTER INC — $100,000 · Crime & LegalCOMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICES INC — $100,000 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF HAWAII — $75,000 · Crime & LegalThe Decarceration Collective — $75,000 · Crime & LegalCENTER FOR DEATH PENALTY LITIGATION — $75,000 · Crime & LegalPUBLIC COUNSEL — $75,000 · Crime & Legal+10 more — $480,000 · Crime & Legal+10 moreNATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE INC — $265,000 · OtherNATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE …THE MEDIATION CENTER OF THE PACIFIC INC — $150,000 · OtherTHE MEDIATION CENTER OF THE PACIFI…ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT — $150,000 · OtherILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT2022 GUMPERT AWARD — $100,000 · Other2022 GUMPERT AWARDCURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SPECIAL TR — $88,240 · OtherCURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISS…THE GEORGIA APPELLATE PRACTICE & EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER INC — $75,000 · OtherNeighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County — $75,000 · OtherAMERICAN IMMIGRATION COUNCIL — $70,000 · OtherEducaloi — $50,000 · OtherINSTITUTO DE EDUCACION PRACTICA DEL COLEGIO DE ABOGADOS DE PUERTO RICO — $50,000 · OtherHouston Bar Association — $50,000 · OtherVOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES — $50,000 · OtherNETWORK FOR GOOD — $50,000 · OtherSCHOOL JUSTICE PROJECT INC — $50,000 · Other+12 more — $188,200 · Other+12 moreJUST THE BEGINNING - A PIPELINE ORGANIZATION — $300,000 · EducationJUST THE BEGINNING…UNIVERSITY OF DENVER — $120,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF DENV…Fordham University — $100,000 · EducationFordham UniversityTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND — $100,000 · EducationTHE ADMINISTRATORS…The Research Foundation for The State University of New York — $53,125 · EducationThe Research Found…Emory University — $50,000 · EducationEmory UniversityUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION — $50,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF COLO…+5 more — $34,000 · EducationOne Vet A Time Inc PROJECT OVAT — $150,000 · Human ServicesIMMIGRANT LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER — $100,000 · Human ServicesTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC — $50,000 · Human ServicesSUZERAIN — $50,000 · Human ServicesLOUISIANA APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE INC — $30,000 · Human ServicesNational District Attorneys Association — $70,000 · Community ImprovementNational Network to End Domestic Violence Inc — $70,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI FOUNDATION — $60,000 · Philanthropy
Crime & Legal$1,970,000Other$1,461,440Education$807,125Human Services$380,000Community Improvement$70,000Youth Development$70,000Philanthropy$60,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetJUST THE BEGINNING - A PIPELINE ORGANIZATION — $300,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetNATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE INC — $265,000 over 9y, 6.1% of budgetTHE MEDIATION CENTER OF THE PACIFIC INC — $150,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetOne Vet A Time Inc PROJECT OVAT — $150,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetINNOCENCE PROJECT NEW ORLEANS — $150,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetREDEMPTION EARNED INC — $150,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetTHE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTH — $150,000 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT — $150,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetGEORGIA JUSTICE PROJECT INC — $125,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DENVER — $120,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJAMES D STCLAIR COURT PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT INC — $115,000 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetSECOND LOOK PROJECT — $100,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetTZEDEK DC INC — $100,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetARIZONA JUSTICE PROJECT — $100,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetPUBLIC JUSTICE CENTER INC — $100,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetIMMIGRANT LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER — $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICES INC — $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFordham University — $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND — $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GEORGIA APPELLATE PRACTICE & EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER INC — $75,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF HAWAII — $75,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetThe Decarceration Collective — $75,000 over 1y, 42% of budgetCENTER FOR DEATH PENALTY LITIGATION — $75,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetPUBLIC COUNSEL — $75,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNational District Attorneys Association — $70,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetNational Network to End Domestic Violence Inc — $70,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetAMERICAN IMMIGRATION COUNCIL — $70,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetIMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS INC — $60,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI FOUNDATION — $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Research Foundation for The State University of New York — $53,125 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PENNSYLVANIA INNOCENCE PROJECT — $50,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetKANSAS CITY METROPOLITAN BAR FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetEmory University — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetStep Up To Justice — $50,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetLegal Services Clinic of the Puerto Rican Community Inc — $50,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetBIRMINGHAM VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROGRAM INC — $50,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetVOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES — $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNETWORK FOR GOOD — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSCHOOL JUSTICE PROJECT INC — $50,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetOHIO LEGAL HELP — $50,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetHOMELESS ADVOCACY PROJECT — $50,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSUZERAIN — $50,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetHouston Bar Association — $50,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetAtlantic Center for Capital Representation Inc — $50,000 over 1y, 9.4% of budgetLOUISIANA APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE INC — $30,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetBROOKLYN DEFENDER SERVICES — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Equal Justice WorksDC31.5× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Equal Justice Works · The Sidley Austin Foundation · Vital Projects Fund Inc · American College of Bankruptcy Foundation · Public Welfare Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · Littler Mendelson Foundation Inc Attn Tax Manager · The Kresge Foundation · Annie E Casey Foundation Inc · The Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation · Eugene & Agnes E Meyer Foundation · Nfl Foundation Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Foundation II of the American College of Trial Lawyers Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 10%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 5%
  • Public Justice Center Inc5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
22report 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, FY2025

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Foundation II of the American College of Trial Lawyers Inc?

Find your warmest path to Foundation II of the American College of Trial Lawyers Inc 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 70 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph