Skip to content
Ohio Access to Justice Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Ohio Access to Justice Foundation

The Foundation is a nonprofit Ohio foundation committed to improving access to justice and ensuring that Ohioans who are low-income or who lack access can fully and fairly participate in civil systems that produce just outcomes.

$12M
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.7M
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$59MHuman Services$50kCivil Rights$4k
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 21 grants below total $11,546,015, the rows itemized in this filing. The $11,855,446 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $309,431 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 $10k1 grant · $7k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $698k
  • $250k+15 grants · $11M
$439,721
Median grant
1
States reached
$42M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality$1,723,305
Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio$1,481,925
Ohio Legal Help$1,092,900
Catholic Charities Corp$1,019,973
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland$931,593
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants$880,069
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati$528,134
Community Refugee and Immigration Services Inc$485,051
Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio$471,025
Community Legal Aid$465,345
International Institute of Akron$439,721
US Together Inc$411,299
Pro Seniors$376,565
Fair Housing Opportunities of Northwest Ohio$276,360
Equality Ohio Education Fund$258,250
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 (FY17–25, $7.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 85% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%Asian Services in Action Inc: $207k → 13%Pro Seniors: $396k → 16%Catholic Charities Corp: $1.0M → 17%Social Services for the Arab Community: $65k → 18%Asian Services in Action Inc: $101k → 13%Pro Seniors: $377k → 16%Catholic Charities Corp: $328k → 17%Asian Services in Action Inc: $18k → 13%Pro Seniors: $343k → 16%Catholic Charities Corp: $211k → 17%Pro Seniors: $342k → 16%Catholic Charities Corp: $170k → 17%Pro Seniors: $326k → 16%Pro Seniors: $301k → 16%Pro Seniors: $285k → 16%Pro Seniors: $114k → 16%Nueva Luz Urban Center: $71k → 17%Nueva Luz Urban Center: $40k → 17%International Institute of Akron: $440k → 13%International Institute of Akron: $171k → 13%International Institute of Akron: $126k → 13%International Institute of Akron: $38k → 13%Advocating Opportunity: $78k → 18%Community Refugee and Immigration Services Inc: $485k → 15%Community Refugee and Immigration Services Inc: $121k → 15%Advocating Opportunity: $30k → 18%Community Refugee and Immigration Services: $101k → 15%Social Services for the Arab Community: $96k → 18%Social Services for the Arab Community: $76k → 18%US Together Inc: $411k → 15%US Together Inc: $256k → 15%Community Refugee and Immigration Services: $50k → 15%Vineyard Community Center: $14k → 15%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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$59M · 24 repeat orgs$362k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +77% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

24 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
5

Total granted

$59M
$85k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+77%
+5%

Still filing today

96%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $276k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesCrime & LegalCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • AF
    ADVOCATES FOR BASIC LEGAL EQUALITY INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $13M · revenue +83% · 26% of their budget
  • LA
    LEGAL AID OF SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL OHIO
    8× · 2017–2025 · $12M · revenue +165% · 31% of their budget
  • LA
    LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND
    8× · 2017–2025 · $7.0M · revenue +120%

Funded once

  • GD
    GREATER DAYTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT
    one grant, 2023 · $51k · revenue +5%
  • VC
    Vineyard Community Center
    one grant, 2022 · $14k · revenue -37%
  • OS
    OHIO STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2024 · $11k · revenue -8%
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
The Toledo Legal Aid Society

Toledo Legal Aid Society provides legal representation for indigent clients that are charged with criminal, traffic, or juvenile offenses for which the penalty or any possible adjudication includes the potential loss of liberty.

—
2
Justice League

The mission of Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center (OCVJC) is to ensure that the constitutional and statutory rights of Ohio crime victims are protected and enforced in state and federal jurisdictions in all 88 Ohio counties. To fulfill this…

Crime & Legal
3
Central Ohio Workers Center Inc

The Central Ohio Worker Center is a non-profit organization that educates, empowers, and advocates for and with low-wage and immigrant workers in Central Ohio.

Civil Rights
4
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation Inc

Aclu of ohio foundation leverages advocacy, litigation, and public education to champion fairness, freedom and justice for all as guaranteed under the constitution and the laws of the u.s.

Civil Rights
5
Legal Defenders Office of Summit County Ohio Inc

To provide legal representation to indigent persons for the citizens of Summit County, Ohio.

Crime & Legal
6
Cincinnati Bar Association

To promote professional excellence, foster justice, serve our members and educate the public.

—
7
Cleveland Jobs With Justice

To work as a coalition of labor unions, community organzation, and religious community to raise the public awarness of and build campaigns to promote workers rights an social justice issues.

Education
8
Ohio Legal Help

Ohio legal help leverages technology and innovation to improve justice and fairness for all ohioans. our work removes barriers to the law so that all ohioans can understand their legal options, make informed decisions and connect to legal…

Crime & Legal
9
Legal Aid Services of Oregon

The primary purpose of legal aid services of oregon shall be to achieve justice for the low-income communities of oregon by providing a full range of the highest quality civil legal services.

Crime & Legal
10
Akron Bar Association

To enhance the quality of law and justice through community service and to maintain the integrity of the profession.

—
11
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Inc

Advocate for and effect systemic change to ensure justice and equity for all ohioans.

—
12
Lakeshore Legal Aid

Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Legal Aid Society of Cleveland; the most unlike its peers is Social Services for the Arab Community. 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

28 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. 28 of the 30 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
21/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ADVOCATES FOR BASIC LEGAL EQUALITY INC: $12,563,128 · OtherADVOCATES FOR BASIC LEGAL EQUALITY INCLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND: $6,999,551 · OtherLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELANDLegal Aid Society of Cincinnati: $5,377,010 · OtherLegal Aid Society of CincinnatiTHE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF COLUMBUS: $1,669,536 · OtherTHE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF COLUMBUSUS COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC: $1,178,778 · Other+3 more: $678,923 · OtherLEGAL AID OF SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL OHIO: $11,707,770 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID OF SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL OHIOCOMMUNITY LEGAL AID SERVICES: $5,301,664 · Crime & LegalCOMMUNITY LEGAL AID SERVICESOHIO LEGAL HELP: $3,672,774 · Crime & LegalOHIO LEGAL HELPLEGAL AID OF WESTERN OHIO INC: $1,100,708 · Crime & Legal+3 more: $385,587 · Crime & LegalPro Seniors Inc: $2,483,203 · Human ServicesPro Seniors I…CATHOLIC CHARITIES CORPORATION: $1,728,875 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHAR…INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AKRON INC: $774,837 · Human ServicesINTERNATIONAL…COMMUNITY REFUGEE & IMMIGRATION SERVICES INC: $756,515 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY REF…US TOGETHER INC: $666,874 · Human ServicesUS TOGETHER I…ASIAN SERVICES IN ACTION INC: $325,900 · Human Services+4 more: $468,120 · Human Services+4 moreEquality Ohio Education Fund: $745,100 · Civil RightsOHIO JUSTICE AND POLICY CENTER: $202,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $6,667 · Civil RightsFAIR HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES OF NORTHWEST OHIO INC: $276,360 · Housing & ShelterTOLEDO BAR ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $124,365 · Community Improvement
Other$28,466,926Crime & Legal$22,168,503Human Services$7,204,324Civil Rights$953,767Housing & Shelter$276,360Community Improvement$124,365

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 budgetADVOCATES FOR BASIC LEGAL EQUALITY INC: $12,563,128 over 8y, 26% of budgetLEGAL AID OF SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL OHIO: $11,707,770 over 8y, 31% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND: $6,999,551 over 8y, 12% of budgetLegal Aid Society of Cincinnati: $5,377,010 over 8y, 13% of budgetCOMMUNITY LEGAL AID SERVICES: $5,301,664 over 8y, 17% of budgetOHIO LEGAL HELP: $3,672,774 over 6y, 90% of budgetPro Seniors Inc: $2,483,203 over 8y, 15% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES CORPORATION: $1,728,875 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetTHE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF COLUMBUS: $1,669,536 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetUS COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC: $1,178,778 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLEGAL AID OF WESTERN OHIO INC: $1,100,708 over 8y, 4.5% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AKRON INC: $774,837 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY REFUGEE & IMMIGRATION SERVICES INC: $756,515 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetEquality Ohio Education Fund: $745,100 over 5y, 9.6% of budgetUS TOGETHER INC: $666,874 over 2y, 9.9% of budgetASIAN SERVICES IN ACTION INC: $325,900 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetLEGAL WORKS INC: $316,087 over 4y, 23% of budgetFAIR HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES OF NORTHWEST OHIO INC: $276,360 over 1y, 19% of budgetSOCIAL SERVICES FOR THE ARAB COMMUNITY: $236,000 over 3y, 32% of budgetOHIO JUSTICE AND POLICY CENTER: $202,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetTOLEDO BAR ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $124,365 over 2y, 44% of budgetNUEVA LUZ URBAN RESOURCE CENTER: $110,672 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetAO ADVOCATING OPPORTUNITY INC: $107,908 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetGREATER DAYTON VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT: $50,500 over 1y, 16% of budgetCLEVELAND METROPOLITAN BAR FOUNDATION: $19,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetVineyard Community Center: $13,540 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetOHIO STATE BAR ASSOCIATION: $11,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOHIO DISABILITY RIGHTS LAW & POLICY CENTER INC: $6,667 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Ohio State Bar Founda…Columbus FoundationThe George Gund Found…Toledo Community Foun…The Cleveland Foundat…American College of B…Equal Justice WorksUnited Way of Central…Ohio VoiceLegal Services Corpor…United Way of Greater…Akron Community Found…
Ohio State Bar FoundationOH28.4× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ohio State Bar Foundation · Columbus Foundation · The George Gund Foundation · Toledo Community Foundation Inc · The Cleveland Foundation · American College of Bankruptcy Foundation · Equal Justice Works · United Way of Central Ohio Inc · Ohio Voice · Legal Services Corporation · United Way of Greater Toledo · Akron Community 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 Ohio Access to Justice Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%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
    11report 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 30 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

    Play a game based on Ohio Access to Justice’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