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Legal Foundation of Washington at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Legal Foundation of Washington

Equal justice for low income people.

$7.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
36
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$675k
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.

Crime & Legal$138MEmployment$21MCivil Rights$2.8MInternational$710kEducation$375kHuman Services$65kArts & Culture$55kYouth Development$10k
02FY2024 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $53k
  • $50k–250k24 grants · $2.0M
  • $250k+10 grants · $5.1M
$60,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$100M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAGE INDIGENOUS LAW CENTER$675,000
WOMENSPIRIT$675,000
SKAGIT LEGAL AID$650,000
TULALIP FOUNDATION$600,000
PORT GAMBLE S'KLALLAM TRIBE$600,000
TACOMAPROBONO$600,000
SKOKOMISH INDIAN TRIBE$375,000
CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE COLVILLE RESERVATION$340,000
NORTHWEST JUSTICE PROJECT$300,000
YAKIMA COUNTY VOLUNTEER ATTORNEY SERVICES$300,000
LAW ADVOCATES$235,000
CHELAN DOUGLAS CO VAS$229,000
EASTSIDE LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM$180,000
GLOBAL RIGHTS ADVOCACY$150,000
COLECTIVA LEGAL DEL PUEBLO$150,000
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 (FY17–24, $5.5M) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 16% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%MI CENTRO: $50k → 9%PACIFIC COUNTY IMMIGRANT SUPPORT: $40k → 14%UNIDOS NUEVA ALIANZA FOUNDATION: $40k → 14%La Casa Hogar: $20k → 17%Pacific County Immigrant Support: $10k → 14%Korean Women's Assoc: $10k → 9%MIA - MUJERES IN ACTION: $40k → 12%BENEFITS LAW CENTER: $1.1M → 9%COMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $133k → 11%COMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $128k → 11%Benefits Law Center: $1.0M → 9%COMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $122k → 11%COMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $110k → 11%BENEFITS LAW CENTER: $760k → 9%NUESTRA CASA: $50k → 11%NUESTRA CASA: $40k → 11%OUR SISTERS' HOUSE: $50k → 9%OUR SISTERS' HOUSE: $40k → 9%BENEFITS LAW CENTER: $220k → 9%SEATTLE COMMUNITY LAW CENTER: $171k → 9%SEATTLE COMMUNITY LAW CENTER: $155k → 9%CAIR (COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS) WASHINGTON: $50k → 9%CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES: $159k → 9%THE MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY: $50k → 9%ASIAN COUNSELING & REFERRAL SERVICES: $50k → 9%CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $50k → 9%EL CENTRO DE LA RAZA: $45k → 9%CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICESTENANT LAW CENTER: $34k → 9%EL CENTRO DE LA RAZA: $5k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON: $60k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON: $60k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON: $30k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON STATE: $25k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON STATE: $25k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON STATE: $25k → 9%Latino Community Fund of Washington: $25k → 9%ST VINCENT DE PAUL OF SEATTLEKING COUNTY: $7k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASH: $220k → 9%DISABILITY RIGHTS WASHINGTON: $94k → 9%SEXUAL VIOLENCE LAW CENTER: $72k → 9%DISABILITY RIGHTS WASHINGTON: $41k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASH: $25k → 9%Disability Rights Washington: $10k → 9%DISABILITY RIGHTS WASHINGTON: $10k → 9%DISABILTY RIGHTS WASHINGTON: $8k → 9%SEXUAL VIOLENCE LAW CENTER: $7k → 9%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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$159M · 62 repeat orgs$3.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +134% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

62 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 40 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

62
17

Total granted

$159M
$550k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+134%
+30%

Still filing today

92%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.1M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Crime & LegalHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureCivil RightsHealthOther
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

  • NI
    NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT
    7× · 2017–2023 · $12M · revenue +105%
  • T
    TeamChild
    7× · 2017–2024 · $5.1M · revenue +33% · 60% of their budget
  • BL
    BENEFITS LAW CENTER
    6× · 2017–2023 · $3.4M · revenue +16% · 65% of their budget

Funded once

  • AC
    American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Foundgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $99k · revenue +58%
  • NH
    Northwest Health Law Advocates
    one grant, 2023 · $60k · revenue -18%
  • AC
    ASIAN COUNSELING AND REFERRAL SERVICEgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +27%
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
Center for Environmental Law & Policy

The Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a statewide organization whose mission is to protect, preserve and restore Washington's waters through education, advocacy, policy reform, and public interest litigation.

Environment
2
Legal Foundation of Washington

Equal justice for low income people.

Crime & Legal
3
Working Washington

We are workers, united across different industries to improve our working conditions and our lives. We come together as working people to build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in…

—
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
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.

—
6
Legal Voice

Legal voice was founded on the belief that all women, girls, and lgbtq+ people should be able to live their lives with dignity, safety, and autonomy. we advance justice and build community power by using multiple strategies: litigation,…

Crime & Legal
7
Drivers Union

Drivers Union is a nonprofit organization that advances justice and fairness for gig economy workers, most of whom are immigrants and refugees, through organizing, education, advocacy, and free legal support.

Public Benefit
8
Gender Justice League

Gender Justice League's mission is to empower all people to eliminate discrimination and prejudice based on sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation in Washington State, and to ensure that trans and gender diverse…

Civil Rights
9
Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs Inc

To protect, through litigation and legal representation, the civil rights of persons who have historically been subject to discrimination and poverty. the committee provides pro bono services by mobilizing the resources of volunteer…

Philanthropy
10
Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice Northwest

The jewish coalition builds a jewish voice in the pacific northwest advancing immigrant justice and domestic policy, following the leadership of impacted community.

Human Services
11
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
12
Legal Link

Legal Link removes legal barriers that prolong poverty by adding critically needed capacity to the legal ecosystem.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; the most unlike its peers is Mi Chiantla. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

85 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. 85 of the 93 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.

30
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
37
Early backer (in before they grew)
82/85
Grantees still filing
61/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COLUMBIA LEGAL SERVICES: $32,884,293 · Crime & LegalCOLUMBIA LEGAL SERVICESKING COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION: $5,206,577 · Crime & LegalKING COUNTY BAR FOUNDATIONUNEMPLOYMENT LAW PROJECT: $3,661,531 · Crime & LegalUNEMPLOYMENT LAW PROJECTNorthwest Justice Project: $2,600,000 · Crime & Legal+22 more: $17,289,291 · Crime & Legal+22 moreFair Work Center: $59,439,500 · EmploymentFair Work CenterNORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT: $12,234,283 · OtherNORTHWEST IMMIGRAN…Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association: $3,547,391 · OtherTacoma-Pierce Coun…LAW ADVOCATES: $1,798,864 · OtherLAW ADVOCATESSNOHOMISH COUNTY LEGAL SERVICES: $1,773,889 · OtherSNOHOMISH COUNTY L…Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program: $1,339,660 · OtherScholar Fund: $1,104,239 · Other+28 more: $4,993,403 · Other+28 moreBENEFITS LAW CENTER: $3,433,300 · Human ServicesLatino Community Fund of Washington State: $495,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $492,190 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $243,152 · Human Services+15 more: $839,149 · Human ServicesTeamChild: $5,068,810 · Community ImprovementCivil Survival Project: $182,500 · Community Improvement+4 more: $162,500 · Community ImprovementCOLECTIVA LEGAL DEL PUEBLO: $1,096,329 · Civil RightsTHE WAY TO JUSTICE: $430,000 · Civil RightsGLBT Bar Association of Washington Foundation: $385,000 · Civil RightsAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Washington Found: $98,518 · Civil Rights+1 more: $50,000 · Civil RightsSolid Ground Washington: $1,814,167 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $40,000 · Housing & Shelter
Crime & Legal$61,641,692Employment$59,439,500Other$26,791,729Human Services$5,502,791Community Improvement$5,413,810Civil Rights$2,059,847Housing & Shelter$1,854,167

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 budgetFair Work Center: $59,439,500 over 5y, 89% of budgetCOLUMBIA LEGAL SERVICES: $32,884,293 over 6y, 82% of budgetNORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT: $12,234,283 over 7y, 16% of budgetKING COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION: $5,206,577 over 7y, 52% of budgetTeamChild: $5,068,810 over 7y, 60% of budgetUNEMPLOYMENT LAW PROJECT: $3,661,531 over 6y, 60% of budgetTacoma-Pierce County Bar Association: $3,547,391 over 8y, 34% of budgetBENEFITS LAW CENTER: $3,433,300 over 6y, 65% of budgetNorthwest Justice Project: $2,600,000 over 8y, 1.2% of budgetYAKIMA COUNTY VOLUNTEER ATTORNEY SERVICES: $1,836,527 over 8y, 77% of budgetSolid Ground Washington: $1,814,167 over 7y, 1.8% of budgetLAW ADVOCATES: $1,798,864 over 8y, 77% of budgetSNOHOMISH COUNTY LEGAL SERVICES: $1,773,889 over 7y, 55% of budgetEASTSIDE LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: $1,625,765 over 8y, 29% of budgetSOUND LEGAL AID: $1,460,487 over 7y, 80% of budgetInland Empire Legal Aid: $1,389,013 over 7y, 84% of budgetSkagit Legal Aid: $1,351,999 over 4y, 97% of budgetClark County Volunteer Lawyers Program: $1,339,660 over 8y, 55% of budgetCHELAN-DOUGLAS VOLUNTEER Attorney Services: $1,312,206 over 8y, 99% of budgetLEGAL COUNSEL FOR YOUTH AND CHILDREN: $1,116,000 over 7y, 13% of budgetScholar Fund: $1,104,239 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetCOLECTIVA LEGAL DEL PUEBLO: $1,096,329 over 7y, 15% of budgetKITSAP LEGAL SERVICES: $1,029,574 over 7y, 95% of budgetENDOWMENT FOR EQUAL JUSTICE: $1,000,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetBENTON FRANKLIN LEGAL AID SOCIETY: $820,376 over 7y, 88% of budgetCLALLAM-JEFFERSON COUNTY PRO BONO LAWYERS: $789,775 over 7y, 75% of budgetTULALIP FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 3y, 47% of budgetCommunities Rise: $740,000 over 5y, 22% of budgetCOWLITZ-WAHKIAKUM COUNTY LEGAL AID PROGRAM INC: $708,944 over 8y, 74% of budgetWA ST NATIVE AMERICAN COALITION AGAINST DV & SA: $675,000 over 1y, 66% of budgetLavender Rights Project: $622,500 over 7y, 35% of budgetSEATTLE CLEMENCY PROJECT: $601,000 over 6y, 37% of budgetBLUE MOUNTAIN ACTION COUNCIL: $593,144 over 7y, 1.6% of budgetLatino Community Fund of Washington State: $495,000 over 8y, 4.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY: $492,190 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetTHE WAY TO JUSTICE: $430,000 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetGLBT Bar Association of Washington Foundation: $385,000 over 2y, 52% of budgetCATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON: $243,152 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER: $213,254 over 4y, 17% of budgetUFW FOUNDATION: $210,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetGlobal Rights Advocacy: $200,000 over 3y, 32% of budgetCivil Survival Project: $182,500 over 3y, 57% of budgetDISABILITY RIGHTS WASHINGTON: $162,500 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetManzanita House: $110,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Washington Found: $98,518 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTenants Union of Washington: $97,500 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetCENTER FOR JUSTICE: $93,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetNuestra CASA: $90,000 over 2y, 13% 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.

  • Who funds Fair Work Center ↗
  • Who funds COLUMBIA LEGAL SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds KING COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TeamChild ↗
  • Who funds UNEMPLOYMENT LAW PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association ↗
  • Who funds BENEFITS LAW CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Northwest Justice Project ↗
  • Who funds YAKIMA COUNTY VOLUNTEER ATTORNEY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds Solid Ground Washington ↗
  • Who funds LAW ADVOCATES ↗
  • Who funds SNOHOMISH COUNTY LEGAL SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds EASTSIDE LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds SOUND LEGAL AID ↗
  • Who funds Inland Empire Legal Aid ↗
  • Who funds Skagit Legal Aid ↗
  • Who funds Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program ↗
  • Who funds CHELAN-DOUGLAS VOLUNTEER Attorney Services ↗
  • Who funds LEGAL COUNSEL FOR YOUTH AND CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds Scholar Fund ↗
  • Who funds COLECTIVA LEGAL DEL PUEBLO ↗
  • Who funds KITSAP LEGAL SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds ENDOWMENT FOR EQUAL JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds BENTON FRANKLIN LEGAL AID SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds CLALLAM-JEFFERSON COUNTY PRO BONO LAWYERS ↗
  • Who funds TULALIP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Communities Rise ↗
  • Who funds COWLITZ-WAHKIAKUM COUNTY LEGAL AID PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds WA ST NATIVE AMERICAN COALITION AGAINST DV & SA ↗
  • Who funds Sage Indigenous Law Center ↗
  • Who funds Lavender Rights Project ↗
  • Who funds SEATTLE CLEMENCY PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds BLUE MOUNTAIN ACTION COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds Latino Community Fund of Washington State ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY ACTION OF SKAGIT COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds THE WAY TO JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds GLBT Bar Association of Washington 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.

Inatai FoundationSeattle FoundationPhilanthropy NorthwestRaikes FoundationThe Satterberg Founda…United Way of King Co…Empire Health Communi…Latino Community Fund…School's Out Washingt…Colectiva Legal del P…Northwest Harvest EmmByrd Barr Place
Inatai FoundationWA87.7× affinity44 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Inatai Foundation · Seattle Foundation · Philanthropy Northwest · Raikes Foundation · The Satterberg Foundation Inc · United Way of King County · Empire Health Community Advocacy Fund · Latino Community Fund of Washington State · School's Out Washington · Colectiva Legal del Pueblo · Northwest Harvest Emm · Byrd Barr Place

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 Legal Foundation of Washington funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Legal Foundation of Washington. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    44report 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 93 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 Legal Foundation of Washington’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