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NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc

The naacp legal defense & educ.

$4.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$55k
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 2025.

Crime & Legal$1.0MCivil Rights$829kCommunity Improvement$575kEducation$330kPhilanthropy$310kHuman Services$300kPublic Benefit$205kReligion$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $141,850, the rows itemized in this filing. The $4,782,416 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $4,640,566 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $55k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$434M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JUSTICE UNITY & SOCIAL$55,000
COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION$30,000
CHARLESTON AREA JUSTICE MINISTRIES MINISTRIES$20,000
ADVANCEMENT PROJECT$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI$7,500
DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM$6,850
TULANE LAW SCHOOL$6,750
FAULKNER UNIVERSITY$5,750
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 (FY22–25, $375k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%RED HOOK INITIATIVE: $50k → 20%JUSTICE UNITY & SOCIAL: $60k → 14%EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $35k → 14%Baltimore Action Legal Team: $50k → 19%RED HOOK INITIATIVE: $25k → 20%JUSTICE UNITY & SOCIAL: $60k → 14%JUSTICE UNITY & SOCIAL: $55k → 14%SNCC LEGACY: $40k → 14%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

ND
IL
NY
MA
OH
PA
CA
KY
VA
MD
NC
SC
DC
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 49% of NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 13% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 9%.

NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inclessmore 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.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 11 repeat orgs$1.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +2% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
36

Total granted

$1.4M
$1.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+2%
0%

Still filing today

100%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $37k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’21’22’23’24’25
Civil RightsCommunity ImprovementEducationHuman ServicesCrime & LegalPublic 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.

Backed again, and grew

  • SC
    Southern Center for Human Rights
    2× · 2023–2024 · $120k · revenue +35%
  • RH
    RED HOOK INITIATIVE
    2× · 2023–2024 · $75k · revenue +25%
  • GE
    GEORGIA EDUCATORS FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE INCORPORATED
    2× · 2023–2024 · $60k · revenue +278% · 72% of their budget

Funded once

  • LO
    LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA EDUCAT
    one grant, 2023 · $120k · revenue -98%
  • LEGAL AID OF NORTH CAROLINA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue +89%
  • TL
    THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS INC
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue -61%
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
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Louisiana

To support the work of the amercian civil liberties union of louisiana through litigation, public education and limited lobbying in support of civil liberties.

Civil Rights
2
Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern coalition for social justice partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities across the south to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights. through an intersectional and…

Crime & Legal
3
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

The american civil liberties union of northern california (aclu nc union) defends and advances the principles of freedom, equality and justice contained in the united states constitution. aclu nc union, a california mutual benefit…

—
4
Council for Court Excellence

Council for court excellence's (cce's) mission is to bring people together to conduct research, educate, and advocate to make d.c.'s unique legal systems more just, equitable, and accountable to the community.

—
5
Alliance for Justice

Alliance for justice builds the strength of progressive movements by training and educating nonprofit organizations on advocacy, while harnessing their collective power to transform our state and federal courts.

Civil Rights
6
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
7
Youth Represent Inc

Youth represent uses legal services, policy advocacy, peer education, and other tools to build power and opportunity for black, latine, and other youth of color who the criminal legal system and other systems of oppression harm the most.…

Crime & Legal
8
Colorofchangeorg

Colorofchange.org works to strengthen the voice of black americans and increase the level of accountability and responsiveness of elected officials to underrepresented black constituencies using the internet as a lobbying and…

—
9
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
10
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Inc

The ACLU of Texas works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for every Texan, no exceptions.

—
11
Philadelphia Area Jobs With Justice

Building support for the rights of working people through coalitions of labor and community and through public education.

Employment
12
Forward Justice Action Network

Forward Justice Action Network is a nonprofit with the purpose to engage in educational and advocacy activities to promote political and grassroots support for public policies that advance racial social and economic justice in North…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Pure Justice. 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

54 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. 54 of the 59 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
54/54
Grantees still filing
24/54
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FUSION PARTNERSHIP INC: $265,000 · Community ImprovementFUSION PARTNERSHIP INCCHARLESTON AREA JUSTICE MINISTRY: $185,000 · Community ImprovementCHARLESTON AREA JUSTICE M…KENTUCKY CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE INC: $135,000 · Community ImprovementKENTUCKY CIVIC ENGAGEMENT…Texas Appleseed: $90,000 · Community ImprovementTexas AppleseedCOMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATIONTOGETHER SC: $50,000 · Community ImprovementTOGETHER SC+3 more: $75,000 · Community Improvement+3 moreSouthern Center for Human Rights: $120,000 · Civil RightsSouthern Center for H…LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA EDUCAT: $120,000 · Civil RightsLEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTER…FLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $105,000 · Civil RightsFLORIDA RISING TOGETH…JUSTICE FOR GREENWOOD FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsJUSTICE FOR GREENWOOD…AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERT…NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION: $75,000 · Civil RightsNEW YORK CIVIL LIBERT…KENTUCKY YOUTH ADVOCATES INC: $40,000 · Civil RightsKENTUCKY YOUTH ADVOCA…+4 more: $38,000 · Civil Rights+4 moreNORTH STAR FUND INC: $100,000 · OtherNORTH STAR FUND INCTHE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $100,000 · OtherTHE LEADERSHIP CONFERE…AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC: $81,250 · OtherAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTI…JACKSONVILLE COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE INC: $50,000 · OtherJACKSONVILLE COMMUNITY…NEW PROSPECT BAPTIST CHURCH: $50,000 · OtherNEW PROSPECT BAPTIST C…National Center for Youth Law: $40,000 · OtherNational Center for Yo…REGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIA: $40,000 · OtherREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFO…ORGANIZING BLACK INC: $130,000 · OtherORGANIZING BLACK INCNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PEER SUPPORT: $50,000 · OtherNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR…SOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $25,000 · OtherNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $31,692 · OtherHOUSING JUSTICE LEAGUE INC: $25,000 · Other+4 more: $26,350 · OtherLEGAL AID OF NORTH CAROLINA INC: $100,000 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID OF…LOUISIANA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $90,000 · Crime & LegalLOUISIANA CE…Advocates for Children of New York: $75,000 · Crime & LegalAdvocates fo…PUBLIC COUNSEL: $75,000 · Crime & LegalPUBLIC COUNS…LEGAL AID JUSTICE CENTER: $75,000 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID JU…JUSTICE UNITY & SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION: $175,000 · Human ServicesJUSTICE UNI…RED HOOK INITIATIVE: $75,000 · Human ServicesRED HOOK IN…Baltimore Action Legal Team Inc: $50,000 · Human ServicesBaltimore A…SNCC LEGACY PROJECT: $40,000 · Human ServicesSNCC LEGACY…EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $35,000 · Human ServicesEQUITY AND …TULSA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 · PhilanthropyTULSA COMM…TIDES FOUNDATION: $100,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUN…PLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyPLAYERS PH…THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE GREATER CAPITAL REGION INC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyTHE COMMUN…Education Law Center - PA: $75,000 · EducationGEORGIA EDUCATORS FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE INCORPORATED: $60,000 · EducationCOALITION OF CONCERNED MOTHERS: $50,000 · EducationE3 EDUCATE EMPOWER ELEVATE: $50,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $25,000 · EducationTHE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION INC: $12,500 · Education+3 more: $20,000 · Education
Community Improvement$850,000Civil Rights$698,000Other$749,292Crime & Legal$415,000Human Services$375,000Philanthropy$360,000Education$292,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFUSION PARTNERSHIP INC: $265,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTULSA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHARLESTON AREA JUSTICE MINISTRY: $185,000 over 5y, 9.3% of budgetJUSTICE UNITY & SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION: $175,000 over 3y, 47% of budgetKENTUCKY CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE INC: $135,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetORGANIZING BLACK INC: $130,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetSouthern Center for Human Rights: $120,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetLEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA EDUCAT: $120,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $105,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUSTICE FOR GREENWOOD FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetNORTH STAR FUND INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLEGAL AID OF NORTH CAROLINA INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTexas Appleseed: $90,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetLOUISIANA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $90,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC: $81,250 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetRED HOOK INITIATIVE: $75,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetAdvocates for Children of New York: $75,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPUBLIC COUNSEL: $75,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLEGAL AID JUSTICE CENTER: $75,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetGEORGIA EDUCATORS FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE INCORPORATED: $60,000 over 2y, 72% of budgetCOMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOALITION OF CONCERNED MOTHERS: $50,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetBaltimore Action Legal Team Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetE3 EDUCATE EMPOWER ELEVATE: $50,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetTOGETHER SC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PEER SUPPORT: $50,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetNational Center for Youth Law: $40,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSNCC LEGACY PROJECT: $40,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetKENTUCKY YOUTH ADVOCATES INC: $40,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetEQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $35,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $31,692 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPure Justice: $25,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetSOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSING JUSTICE LEAGUE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetOHIO FAMILIES UNITE AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY: $25,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION INC: $12,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMISSISSIPPI VOTES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLOVE NOT BLOOD CAMPAIGN: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetBOLD TRAINING INSTITUTE INC: $8,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM INC: $6,850 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $6,750 over 1y, 0.0% 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…Common Counsel Founda…The Ford FoundationNew Venture FundBorealis PhilanthropyNEO Philanthropy IncSolidaire Network IncAnnie E Casey Foundat…Equal Justice WorksProteus Fund IncTides FoundationThe Skadden Foundation
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC33.7× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Common Counsel Foundation · The Ford Foundation · New Venture Fund · Borealis Philanthropy · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Solidaire Network Inc · Annie E Casey Foundation Inc · Equal Justice Works · Proteus Fund Inc · Tides Foundation · The Skadden 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Tulsa Community Foundation: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Fusion Partnership Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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 59 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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