How much does Illinois Equal Justice Foundation give?

Illinois Equal Justice Foundation reported 54 grants totaling $13,892,637 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 32 and 49 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does Illinois Equal Justice Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Crime & Legal (99%), Human Services (0%), Housing & Shelter (0%).

Who are Illinois Equal Justice Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Land of Lincoln Legal Aid Inc ($18M), Prairie State Legal Services Inc ($16M), Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services ($7.3M).

Does Illinois Equal Justice Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 20% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Illinois Equal Justice Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, Polk Bros Foundation Inc, The Chicago Bar Foundation.

Where is Illinois Equal Justice Foundation based?

Illinois Equal Justice Foundation is based in IL.

Foundation Dossiers Also receives grants: funding profile →

Illinois · Public charity

Illinois Equal Justice Foundation

The ILLINOIS EQUAL JUSTICE FOUNDATION funds civil legal aid in illinois to champion the rights of those burdened by barriers to justice. We envision equitable access to and navigation of the illinois civil legal system.

$14M
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 54
Grants FY2025: 49
Organizations funded FY2024: 20%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2025: $50,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $4,068,346
Organizations funded a year: 32 to 49; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 1
Total assets, FY2025: $11M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 20% of the organizations Illinois Equal Justice Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 2% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $266k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Crime & LegalHuman ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterPublic BenefitOther

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
FY2025still arriving	54	$14M	9%
FY2024	49	$13M	20%
FY2023	37	$12M	11%
FY2022	38	$9.8M	5%
FY2021	37	$5.1M	11%
FY2020	32	$3.8M	9%
FY2019	38	$3.6M	13%
FY2018	36	$3.6M	19%

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Crime & Legal$68MHuman Services$203kHousing & Shelter$178kCivil Rights$154kEmployment$140kHealth$70kEducation$52k

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Land of Lincoln Legal Aid Inc	$17,896,742	9	30%
Prairie State Legal Services Inc	$15,666,687	9	16%
Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services	$7,323,948	9	30%
Legal Aid Chicago	$4,443,427	9	3%
Dispute Resolution Institute Inc	$2,660,977	9	22%
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation	$2,185,904	9	10%
Illinois Legal Aid Online	$1,714,387	9	11%
Greater Chicago Legal Clinic	$1,299,946	9	11%
Equip for Equality	$1,290,000	9	2%
Cabrini Green Legal Aid	$1,268,718	9	6%

Show all 72 grantees

All grantees of Illinois Equal Justice Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Land of Lincoln Legal Aid Inc	$17,896,742	9	30%
Prairie State Legal Services Inc	$15,666,687	9	16%
Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services	$7,323,948	9	30%
Legal Aid Chicago	$4,443,427	9	3%
Dispute Resolution Institute Inc	$2,660,977	9	22%
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation	$2,185,904	9	10%
Illinois Legal Aid Online	$1,714,387	9	11%
Greater Chicago Legal Clinic	$1,299,946	9	11%
Equip for Equality	$1,290,000	9	2%
Cabrini Green Legal Aid	$1,268,718	9	6%
Resolution Systems Institute	$1,158,648	6	55%
Metropolitan Family Services	$1,136,317	9	0%
Center for Conflict Resolution	$888,061	9	9%
North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic	$866,065	5	8%
Law Center for Better Housing	$827,467	9	5%
James B Moran Center for Youth Advocacy	$617,979	8	8%
Public Interest Law Initiative	$594,055	8	9%
Center for Disability & Elder Law Inc	$561,782	8	11%
Legacy Law School Corporation	$456,100	9	70%
Life-Span	$393,386	9	3%
Ascend Justice	$384,835	9	3%
West Side Justice Center Inc	$338,770	6	11%
Uptown People's Law Center	$330,921	9	9%
Beyond Legal Aid	$326,532	8	7%
Ceic Corpcannabis Equity Il Coalition	$279,500	5	n/a
Legal Council for Health Justice	$235,000	9	1%
Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project	$215,000	9	2%
Governors State University Foundation	$210,000	3	4%
Loyola University of Chicago	$210,000	8	0%
Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness	$185,000	9	1%
Southern Illinois University Foundation	$162,183	4	0%
Institute for Latino Progress	$137,500	6	0%
Alliance of Local Service Organizations	$127,500	5	1%
The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence	$126,342	2	1%
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago	$125,364	4	0%
Chicago House & Social Service Agency	$125,000	7	0%
Metropolitan Tenants Organization	$121,183	6	5%
First Defense Legal Aid	$115,000	5	3%
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation	$94,410	3	2%
Raise the Floor Alliance	$90,000	3	3%
Provo School District	$80,000	2	n/a
Center for Economic Progress	$80,000	2	2%
Shriver Center on Poverty Law	$79,000	4	0%
Chinese Mutual Aid Association	$77,537	1	1%
Restore Justice Foundation	$75,865	1	4%
Chinese American Service League Inc	$75,010	3	0%
Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc	$69,663	4	1%
Childrens Legal Center	$65,000	3	1%
Public Equiity	$60,000	1	n/a
Pro Bono Network	$60,000	2	9%
Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center	$57,796	2	0%
Chicago Workers' Collaborative NFP	$51,861	2	1%
In Tandem Workforce Inc	$50,000	2	n/a
Indo-American Center	$50,000	2	1%
United Congregations of Metro East	$50,000	2	4%
Cair-Chicago	$50,000	2	1%
Immigration Project Inc	$46,680	3	1%
Women in Need Recovery	$45,000	2	1%
Apna Ghar Inc	$43,634	1	1%
The Family Defense Center	$40,000	2	4%
Working Family Solidarity	$30,000	3	6%
Arab American Family Services	$25,022	1	n/a
Coalition Legal	$25,000	1	7%
Young Men's Christian Association of the University of Illinois	$24,693	2	0%
Center for Information of Elgin (Centro de Informacion)	$23,732	3	1%
The Hana Center	$20,000	2	n/a
Safer Foundation	$20,000	1	0%
Legal Action Chicago LLC	$20,000	2	1%
Antmound Foundation	$17,250	2	n/a
Administer Justice	$10,000	1	1%
Illinois Institute of Technology	$10,000	1	0%
Administer Justice	$10,000	1	n/a

Illinois Equal Justice Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 4 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 64 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 64.

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.

Lawyers Trust Fund of IllinoisIL83× affinity37 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · The Chicago Bar Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Illinois Bar Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Chicago Foundation for Women · Public Interest Law Initiative · The Resurrection Project · The Sidley Austin Foundation · Forefront · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation

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 Illinois Equal Justice Foundation with peer funders

About Illinois Equal Justice Foundation

How much does Illinois Equal Justice Foundation give?: Illinois Equal Justice Foundation reported 54 grants totaling $13,892,637 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 32 and 49 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Illinois Equal Justice Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Crime & Legal (99%), Human Services (0%), Housing & Shelter (0%).
Who are Illinois Equal Justice Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Land of Lincoln Legal Aid Inc ($18M), Prairie State Legal Services Inc ($16M), Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services ($7.3M).
Does Illinois Equal Justice Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 20% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Illinois Equal Justice Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, Polk Bros Foundation Inc, The Chicago Bar Foundation.
Where is Illinois Equal Justice Foundation based?: Illinois Equal Justice Foundation is based in IL.