· Public charity
Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois
To provide grant funds to illinois not-for-profit organizations providing legal assistance to the poor throughout illinois and for such other programs for the benefit of the public as specifically approved from time to time by the supreme court of illinois exclusively for public purposes.
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.
By grant size · FY2025
- $10k–50k5 grants · $200k
- $50k–250k30 grants · $2.9M
- $250k+20 grants · $25M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES | $5,530,000 |
| LAND OF LINCOLN LEGAL AID | $5,280,000 |
| LEGAL AID CHICAGO | $2,080,000 |
| CARPLS LEGAL AID | $1,470,000 |
| NATIONAL IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CENTER | $1,445,000 |
| ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE | $1,275,000 |
| CHICAGO VOLUNTEER LEGAL SERVICES | $1,087,000 |
| CABRINI GREEN LEGAL AID | $835,000 |
| LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES | $810,000 |
| LAW CENTER FOR BETTER HOUSING | $785,000 |
| EQUIP FOR EQUALITY | $610,000 |
| LIFE SPAN | $566,875 |
| ASCEND JUSTICE | $560,000 |
| LEGAL COUNCIL FOR HEALTH JUSTICE | $510,000 |
| IMMIGRATION PROJECT | $460,000 |
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 (FY17–25, $14.9M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% 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
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +61% since the first grant, against -6% for those funded once.
63 repeat relationships: 46 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 8 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, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- PSPRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES INC9× · 2017–2025 · $28M · revenue +111% · 33% of their budget
- LOLAND OF LINCOLN LEGAL AID INC9× · 2017–2025 · $27M · revenue +66% · 40% of their budget
- LALEGAL AID CHICAGO9× · 2017–2025 · $9.5M · revenue +96%
Funded once
- WCWorking Credit NFPone grant, 2024 · $199k · revenue -51%
- ILILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINEone grant, 2020 · $103k
- IFINSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE OF LAW PRACTICE INCone grant, 2019 · $27k · revenue +39%
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.
Latino Union works to defend the rights and dignity of contingent workers, including the right to immigrate, work, live free of oppression and violence, and provide for oneself and one's family.
The chicago committee seeks racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession by collaborating with its law firm and corporate membership to: drive sustainable institutional change at law firms and corporate legal departments; provide…
Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.
Serving recently arrived migrants and asylum seekers in the Chicagoland area and is committed to upholding the dignity and human rights of immigrants.
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) is a leader in advancing immigrant rights through its unique strategy drawing on its legal services to promote legal reform through litigation, advocacy and strategic communications.
First Defense Legal Aid mobilizes lawyers and community members to fill gaps in public defense and create, protect, and engage replicable alternatives to the criminal system, starting with its entry points.
In 2024, Inner City Law Center, ICLC, served over 3,400 people, helping vulnerable Angelenos to remain in their homes and recover nearly $20.5 million in financial benefits.
The Chicago Refugee Coalition is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated ot the alleviation of human suffering through innovative partnerships, advocacy and community empowerment.
CASA of Cook County's vision is to protect abused and neglected children by providing them in court, a safe and permanent home, and an opportunity to grow, learn and thrive.
Advocate for tort reform in Illinois by communicating with public officials and staff to influence legislation and administrative action designed to create a more equitable and balanced judicial system in Illinois.
Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.
Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and…
How this is measured
69 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. 69 of the 76 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 PRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds LAND OF LINCOLN LEGAL AID INC ↗
- Who funds LEGAL AID CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds ILLINOIS LEGAL AID ONLINE ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO VOLUNTEER LEGAL SERVICES FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds COORDINATED ADVICE & REFERRAL PROGRAM FOR LEGAL SERVICES ↗
- Who funds Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights ↗
- Who funds CABRINI GREEN LEGAL AID ↗
- Who funds Law Center for Better Housing ↗
- Who funds Greater Chicago Legal Clinic ↗
- Who funds Metropolitan Family Services ↗
- Who funds LIFE-SPAN ↗
- Who funds EQUIP FOR EQUALITY ↗
- Who funds ASCEND JUSTICE ↗
- Who funds Legal Council for Health Justice ↗
- Who funds THE YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDRENS RIGHTS ↗
- Who funds Public Interest Law Initiative ↗
- Who funds Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago ↗
- Who funds DUPAGE LEGAL AID FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Center for Disability & Elder Law Inc ↗
- Who funds The Resurrection Project ↗
- Who funds Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc ↗
- Who funds DEPAUL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds Uptown People's Law Center ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS ↗
- Who funds NORTH SUBURBAN LEGAL AID CLINIC ↗
- Who funds IMMIGRATION PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds ILLINOIS EQUAL JUSTICE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS ↗
- Who funds Chicago Workers' Collaborative NFP ↗
- Who funds WORLD RELIEF CORP OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HOUSE & SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY ↗
- Who funds UPSOLVE INC ↗
- Who funds ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE ↗
- Who funds RAISE THE FLOOR ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds The Village Legal and Community Project ↗
- Who funds DuPage County Bar Association ↗
- Who funds Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation ↗
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: Illinois Equal Justice Foundation · Illinois Bar Foundation · The Chicago Bar Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Resurrection Project · The Chicago Community Trust · Chicago Foundation for Women · Public Interest Law Initiative · The Sidley Austin Foundation · Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights · Equal Justice Works
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois. Bigger dots raise more.
- World Relief Corp of National Association of Evangelicals: 67% of income from government
How this is measured
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