How much does Public Counsel give?

Public Counsel reported 3 itemized grants totaling $1,073,363, out of $1,165,269 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 5 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.

What does Public Counsel fund?

By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Civil Rights (67%), Education (23%), Crime & Legal (8%).

Who are Public Counsel's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area ($801k), ACCE Institute ($398k), Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law ($325k).

Does Public Counsel fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 40% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Public Counsel?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Weingart Foundation, The California Endowment, California Community Foundation.

Foundation Dossiers Mostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

California · Public charity

Public Counsel

PUBLIC COUNSEL is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to advancing civil rights and racial and economic justice, as well as to amplifying the power of our clients through comprehensive legal advocacy. (see sch o for continuation)founded on and strengthened by a pro bono legal service model, our staff and volunteers seek…

$1.2M
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 3
Itemized grants FY2025: 5
Organizations funded FY2024: 40%
First-time grantees FY2024

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Itemized, FY2025: $1.1M; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025: $247,662
Largest grant, FY2025: $716,712
Organizations funded a year: 2 to 5; FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 2
Total assets, FY2025: $35M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 40% of the organizations Public Counsel funded were first-time grantees, receiving 50% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $162k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Housing & ShelterEducationOther

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	3	$1.1M	0%
FY2024	5	$325k	40%
FY2023	4	$261k	100%
FY2020	2	$55k	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Civil Rights$1.2MEducation$398kCrime & Legal$136kCommunity Improvement$15kHousing & Shelter$8k

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area	$801,434	2	14%
ACCE Institute	$397,741	3	3%
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law	$325,129	2	0%
Bet Tzedek	$111,427	2	0%
Right to the City Alliance	$30,000	1	0%
Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County	$25,000	1	0%
East la Community Corporation	$15,046	2	0%
Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County	$8,069	1	0%

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Public Counsel supplied at peak.

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 8.

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.

Weingart FoundationCA13.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Weingart Foundation · The California Endowment · California Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Local Initiatives Support Corporation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Public Counsel with peer funders

About Public Counsel

How much does Public Counsel give?: Public Counsel reported 3 itemized grants totaling $1,073,363, out of $1,165,269 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 5 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does Public Counsel fund?: By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Civil Rights (67%), Education (23%), Crime & Legal (8%).
Who are Public Counsel's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area ($801k), ACCE Institute ($398k), Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law ($325k).
Does Public Counsel fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 40% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Public Counsel?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Weingart Foundation, The California Endowment, California Community Foundation.
Where is Public Counsel based?: Public Counsel is based in CA.