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Public Counsel at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· 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.

$1.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$717k
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, FY2020 to 2025.

Civil Rights$1.2MEducation$398kCrime & Legal$136kCommunity Improvement$15kHousing & Shelter$8k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 3 grants below total $1,073,363, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,165,269 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $91,906 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

  • $50k–250k2 grants · $357k
  • $250k+1 grant · $717k
$247,662
Median grant
2
States reached
$35M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY$716,712
LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW$247,662
ACCE INSTITUTE$108,989
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 53% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 12%LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY: $717k → 10%NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES: $25k → 14%RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE: $30k → 20%LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW: $248k → 14%LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY: $85k → 10%EAST LA COMMUNITY CORPORATION: $8k → 14%LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW: $77k → 14%EAST LA COMMUNITY CORPORATION: $7k → 14%BET TZEDEK: $89k → 14%BET TZEDEK: $22k → 14%NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY (NHS): $8k → 14%ACCE INSTITUTE: $157k → 14%ACCE INSTITUTE: $132k → 14%ACCE INSTITUTE: $109k → 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.
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 5 repeat orgs$63k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
3

Total granted

$1.7M
$63k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+67%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’20’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’23’24’25
Housing & ShelterEducationCivil RightsOther
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

  • LC
    Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
    2× · 2024–2025 · $801k · revenue -1%
  • AI
    ACCE Institute
    3× · 2023–2025 · $398k · revenue -35%
  • LC
    Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
    2× · 2024–2025 · $325k · revenue 0%

Funded once

  • RIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE
    one grant, 2020 · $30k · revenue -22%
  • NL
    Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles Countygraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +67%
  • NH
    NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTYgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $8k · revenue +192%
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
Inner City Law Center

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.

Crime & Legal
2
Asian Law Caucus

The Asian Law Caucus's mission is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist…

Crime & Legal
3
California Center for Movement Legal Services

The California Center for Movement Legal Services (Movement Legal) provides legal services in the pursuit of improving the lives of California's traditionally underserved residents, carrying out legal work that fosters community led policy…

Crime & Legal
4
La Raza Centro Legal - San Francisco

La Raza Centro Legal San Francisco provides high quality, highly trusted, free legal services to low-income or immigrant clients in the San Francisco Bay Area.

—
5
Legal Link

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

Crime & Legal
6
Community Lawyers Inc

Community Lawyers, Inc. provides underserved low- and no-income community members access to legal representation, pro-bono legal clinics, and community advocacy and engagement.

Crime & Legal
7
Legal Aid Justice Center

The legal aid justice center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.

Crime & Legal
8
Southern California Housing Rights Center

Fair housing monitoring outreach and education housing rights training counseling and case analysis. Have several grants to provide these services to the public on behalf of several city jurisdiction including the City and County of Los…

Civil Rights
9
National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles

NLG is the oldest and most extensive network of public interest and human rights legal activists working within the legal system and the movement. With chapters across the country, we are a coalition of anti-capitalist, anti-racist,…

Civil Rights
10
Legal Aid Association of California

The Legal Aid Association of California, the statewide membership of legal services nonprofits, serves its members through advocacy and other support in efforts to provide legal assistance to low-income Californians and ensure access to…

—
11
Los Angeles Black Worker Center

The mission of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center is to increase access to quality jobs, reduce employment discrimination, and improve industries that employ black workers through action and unionization.

Employment
12
Inland Counties Legal Services

Inland Counties Legal Services (ICLS) mission is to pursue justice and equality for low-income individuals through counsel, advice, advocacy, and community education, treating all with dignity and respect. Over the last six decades, ICLS…

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County; the most unlike its peers is Acce Institute. 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

8 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
4/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area: $801,434 · OtherLawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay AreaLawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: $325,129 · OtherLawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under LawBET TZEDEK: $111,427 · OtherBET TZEDEK+1 more: $25,000 · OtherACCE Institute: $397,741 · EducationACCE InstituteRIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE: $30,000 · Civil RightsEAST LA COMMUNITY CORPORATION: $15,046 · Housing & ShelterNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY: $8,069 · Housing & Shelter
Other$1,262,990Education$397,741Civil Rights$30,000Housing & Shelter$23,115

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

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area: $801,434 over 2y, 14% of budgetACCE Institute: $397,741 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetLawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: $325,129 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBET TZEDEK: $111,427 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetRIGHT TO THE CITY ALLIANCE: $30,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNeighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEAST LA COMMUNITY CORPORATION: $15,046 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY: $8,069 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

Weingart FoundationThe California Endowm…California Community …Silicon Valley Commun…Local Initiatives Sup…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Public Counsel funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Public Counsel. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%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
    3report 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 8 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