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Southern Poverty Law Center Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Southern Poverty Law Center Inc

The southern poverty law center is a catalyst for racial justice in the south and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.

$1.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$350k
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, FY2018 to 2025.

Food & Nutrition$3.0MEducation$2.7MHousing & Shelter$2.0MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.1MPhilanthropy$720kCrime & Legal$400kCivil Rights$330kPublic Benefit$222kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $230k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $425k
  • $250k+1 grant · $350k
$25,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$922M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY$350,000
ALABAMA POST CONVICTION RELIEF PROJECT INC$100,000
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE$100,000
IGNITE ALABAMA$75,000
TUSKEGEE HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS MULTICULTURAL CTR$50,000
CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE LENDING$50,000
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ALABAMA FOUNDATION INC$50,000
TUSKEGEE MACON COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC$45,000
SELMA DALLAS COUNTY CHILDRENS POLICY COUNCIL FOUNDATION$25,000
NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CTR$25,000
JUSTICE IN MOTION INC$25,000
AMERICAN BAR ASSN FUND FOR JUSTICE & EDUCATION$25,000
JOHN JAY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC$20,000
TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE COALITION$20,000
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NONPROFITS$20,000
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 (FY20–25, $2.7M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%UPSTATE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS: $50k → 10%EL SOL JNRC: $25k → 11%OPEN ARMS INC: $50k → 23%TUTWILER COMMUNITY EDUCATION CENTER: $35k → 31%WE2GETHER CREATING CHANGE: $25k → 32%GIVING HOPE INC: $50k → 23%OUACHITA MULTI-PURPOSE COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM: $50k → 24%FRANCISCAN CENTER INC: $50k → 19%MILL COMMUNITY MINISTRIES: $25k → 10%ESPERANZA COMMUNITY CENTER: $25k → 11%HUMAN RIGHTS COALITION OF ALACHUA COUNTY: $25k → 19%FOOD BANK OF NORTHEAST LOUISIANA: $75k → 24%MONTGOMERY AREA COUNCIL ON AGING: $50k → 18%CATHOLIC CHARITIES ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS: $25k → 23%JOHN JAY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $20k → 17%QUEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INC: $2.0M → 13%SNCC LEGACY PROJECT: $100k → 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

AK
ME
VT
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

19%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 20 repeat orgs$8.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +13% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
216

Total granted

$1.9M
$7.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+12%

Still filing today

60%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $573k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationFood & NutritionHuman ServicesCivil RightsCrime & LegalCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • TC
    Tougaloo College
    2× · 2023–2024 · $110k · revenue +20%
  • AC
    ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +50%
  • MF
    MID-SOUTH FOOD BANK
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • QC
    QUEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $2.0M · revenue +195% · 33% of their budget
  • Feeding Americagraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue +40%
  • IR
    INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH & EXCHANGES BOARD INC
    one grant, 2024 · $135k · revenue -4%
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 Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri

The food bank for central & northeast missouri is a regional disaster and hunger relief network that acquires and distributes millions of meals each year to help neighbors get the food they need to thrive. (continued on schedule o)the…

Food & Nutrition
2
The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas

The food bank of northeast arkansas provides hunger relief to people in need in twelve counties in northeast arkansas by raising awareness, securing resources, and distributing food through a network of non-profit agencies and programs.

Human Services
3
Regional Food Bank of Northeast Florida Inc

Feeding Northeast Florida works to permanently end hunger in Northeast Florida by providing nutritious foods and other essential goods to people facing hunger, by addressing food insecurity, poverty and poor health through education and…

Food & Nutrition
4
Galveston County Food Bank

Create and maintain a food procurement and distribution network that provides nurishing food by maximizing relationships with major food distributors and producers. galveston county food bank effectively distributes nutritious food to…

Human Services
5
Food Bank of Central & Eastern Nc Inc

Nourish people. build solutions. empower communities. no one goes hungry.

Food & Nutrition
6
Food Bank of Central New York

Food bank of central new york is a not-for-profit organization: our mission is to lead the effort to eliminate hunger in our region, through partnerships with others in our community, through education, advocacy, and distribution of…

Food & Nutrition
7
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
8
Food Action

Our mission is to educate, organize and advocate for food and farming systems to become economically prosperous, ecologically sound and socially equitable.

—
9
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida Inc

Dedicated to alleviating hunger through acquisition and distribution of food and grocery products, community education to the causes and consequences of hunger, and meaningful action on behalf of people in need of food.

—
10
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee

Second harvest food bank of east tennessee is dedicated to compassionately feeding east tennesseans experiencing hunger & engaging the community in the fight to eliminate hunger.

—
11
Community Farmers Markets Inc

To develop a local food infrastructure for long term sustainability and meaningful community impact and grow a diverse local food culture by maintaining an authentic space for all people to share community, fair food, and healthy…

Food & Nutrition
12
Regional East Texas Food Bank

Etfb's mission is to fight hunger and feed hope in east texas.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mississippi Food Network Inc; the most unlike its peers is Westside Community Action Council. 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

140 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. 140 of the 256 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)
26
Early backer (in before they grew)
136/140
Grantees still filing
82/140
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

QUEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INC: $2,000,000 · Human ServicesQUEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT …SNCC LEGACY PROJECT: $100,000 · Human Services+15 more: $580,000 · Human Services+15 moreFeeding America: $1,000,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding AmericaDELTA FRESH FOODS INITIATIVE INC: $75,000 · Food & Nutrition+26 more: $950,000 · Food & Nutrition+26 moreREDEMPTION EARNED INC: $100,000 · OtherALABAMA POST CONVICTION RELIEF PROJECT INC: $100,000 · OtherAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $100,000 · OtherINTERNATIONAL RESEARCH & EXCHANGES BOARD INC: $135,000 · Other+113 more: $2,358,598 · Other+113 moreAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $1,255,000 · EducationAMERICAN UNIVERSIT…Tougaloo College: $110,000 · EducationTougaloo CollegeINSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC DIALOGUE-US: $100,000 · EducationINSTITUTE FOR STRA…+20 more: $287,791 · Education+20 moreNEW VENTURE FUND: $550,000 · EnvironmentHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $100,000 · EnvironmentMISSISSIPPI VOTES: $100,000 · Civil RightsEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $100,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ALABAMA FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Civil RightsWECOUNT: $50,000 · Civil RightsREUBEN V ANDERSON CENTER FOR JUSTICE: $50,000 · Civil RightsNATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER: $25,000 · Civil RightsTRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE COALITION: $20,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $10,000 · Civil RightsIGNITE ALABAMA: $175,000 · Community ImprovementWESTSIDE COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL: $100,000 · Community ImprovementTHE REACHING EDUCATING FOR COMMUNITY HOPE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Community ImprovementSouthern Foundation for Homeless Children Inc: $50,000 · Community ImprovementDELTA HANDS FOR HOPE: $16,000 · Community Improvement
Human Services$2,680,000Food & Nutrition$2,025,000Other$2,793,598Education$1,752,791Environment$650,000Civil Rights$405,000Community Improvement$391,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetQUEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION INC: $2,000,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $1,255,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFeeding America: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $550,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIGNITE ALABAMA: $175,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetINTERNATIONAL RESEARCH & EXCHANGES BOARD INC: $135,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTougaloo College: $110,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC DIALOGUE-US: $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMISSISSIPPI VOTES: $100,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetSNCC LEGACY PROJECT: $100,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetREDEMPTION EARNED INC: $100,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALABAMA POST CONVICTION RELIEF PROJECT INC: $100,000 over 1y, 86% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD BANK OF NORTHEAST LOUISIANA INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetDELTA FRESH FOODS INITIATIVE INC: $75,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetTHE BOSTON EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION INC: $60,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCENTRO CAMPESINO FARMWORKER CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetA SERVANTS LOVE INCORPORATED: $50,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetOPEN ARMS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 34% of budgetTangi Food Pantry: $50,000 over 1y, 32% of budgetSECOND HELPINGS ATLANTA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMAGNOLIA MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetFRANCISCAN CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ALABAMA FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetFEEDING SOUTH FLORIDA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding Ga Families: $50,000 over 1y, 57% of budgetMONTGOMERY AREA COUNCIL ON AGING: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetALABAMA CHILDHOOD FOOD SOLUTIONS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetWECOUNT: $50,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetTHE REACHING EDUCATING FOR COMMUNITY HOPE FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetMID-SOUTH FOOD BANK: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWEST ALABAMA FOOD BANK INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSouthern Foundation for Homeless Children Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetGiving Hope Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICA'S SECOND HARVEST OF COASTAL GEORGIA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetATLFAMILYMEAL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetKIKSTART INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetUPSTATE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS: $50,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetSELMA AREA FOOD BANK: $50,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetWIREGRASS AREA FOOD BANK INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetFarmworker Association of Florida Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetOUACHITA MULTI-PURPOSE COMMUNITY ACTION ACTION PROGRAM INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetWHEN WE ALL VOTE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCARY CHRISTIAN CENTER INC: $40,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WASHINGTON COUNTY INC: $35,000 over 1y, 3.6% 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.

GenYOUTH IncorporatedRound It Up America I…Share Our StrengthProject Lead the Way …For Inspiration and R…Project Lead the Way …Save the Music Founda…The George W Bush Fou…Feeding AmericaRockefeller Philanthr…I Car Education Found…Action for Healthy Ki…
GenYOUTH IncorporatedIL53.5× affinity36 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: GenYOUTH Incorporated · Round It Up America Inc · Share Our Strength · Project Lead the Way Inc · For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) · Project Lead the Way Inc · Save the Music Foundation · The George W Bush Foundation · Feeding America · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · I Car Education Foundation · Action for Healthy Kids

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 Southern Poverty Law Center Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Southern Poverty Law Center Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Feeding South Florida Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Coalition of Florida Farmworker Organizations Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Odyssey Charter School: 2% of income from government
  • Franciscan Center Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
43report 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 256 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