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The Freedom Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Freedom Fund

We identify and invest in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the countries and sectors where it is most prevalent.

$11M
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$300k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2024.

International$5.5MCrime & Legal$2.9MHuman Services$2.6MCivil Rights$1.4MEducation$992kEnvironment$791kArts & Culture$195kFood & Nutrition$127kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 20 grants below total $2,526,998, the rows itemized in this filing. The $10,847,966 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $8,320,968 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 · FY2024

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $143k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.5M
  • $250k+3 grants · $841k
$120,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$38M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TRANSPARENTEM LTD$300,000
HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTRE$287,500
POLARIS$253,125
TIDES CENTER$205,000
GREENPEACE FUND$200,000
NORC$185,840
GLJ-ILRF$150,000
BUSARA CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS INC$133,108
FREE THE SLAVES$125,625
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY LAB$120,000
INSTITUTE OF FOOD$117,000
INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM$90,000
SURVIVOR ALLIANCE US$87,000
POPULATION COUNCIL INC$80,000
CLIMATE RIGHTS$50,000
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 (FY17–24, $2.8M) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 86% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%A BREEZE OF HOPE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%TIDES CENTER: $205k → 10%TRANSPARENTEM: $600k → 20%MADE IN A FREE WORLD: $100k → 10%TRANSPARENTEM: $200k → 17%TRANSPARENTEM LTD: $435k → 20%MADE IN A FREE WORLD: $75k → 10%TRANSPARENTEM LTD: $300k → 20%TRANSPARENTEM: $150k → 17%TRANSPARENTEM: $250k → 20%TRANSPARENTEM: $250k → 20%TRANSPARENTEM: $200k → 20%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

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
CA
MD
DC
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $8.3M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 7 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

East Asia and the Pacific$3.0M · 36% · 40 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$1.6M · 20% · 14 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

Sub-Saharan Africa$1.6M · 19% · 46 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

South Asia$1.2M · 14% · 23 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

Middle East and North Africa$545k · 7% · 13 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

South America$338k · 4% · 11 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

North America (Canada and Mexico)$90k · 1% · 3 grants

Stated purpose: DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14M · 23 repeat orgs$701k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
14

Total granted

$14M
$534k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+16%

Still filing today

87%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $167k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
InternationalHuman ServicesEducationEnvironmentPublic BenefitEmploymentOther
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

  • TH
    THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER
    8× · 2017–2024 · $2.8M · revenue +121% · 58% of their budget
  • FT
    FREE THE SLAVES
    8× · 2017–2024 · $894k · revenue +42%
  • CA
    Corporate Accountability Lab
    6× · 2019–2024 · $768k · revenue +20% · 48% of their budget

Funded once

  • SF
    SUSTAINABLE FISHERY ADVOCATES
    one grant, 2017 · $75k · revenue -44%
  • NEO Philanthropy Incgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $75k · revenue +27%
  • TI
    THE INVESTMENT INTEGRATION PROJECT LLC
    one grant, 2020 · $65k
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
Human Rights and Business Award Foundation
Civil Rights
2
International Center for Research On Women

The international center for research for women (icrw) is a global research institute, with a mission to advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and structurally excluded populations with actionable evidence and solutions.

International
3
Global Fairness Initiative

The global fairness initiative (gfi) promotes a more equitable, sustainable approach to economic development for the world's working poor by advancing fair wages, equal access to markets, and balanced public policy to ensure a more just,…

International
4
Fair Labor Association

The mission of the Fair Labor Association (FLA) is to protect workers' rights and improve working conditions worldwide for more than five million workers in the factories and farms of our affiliates. (see schedule o)

International
5
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
6
Direct Action for Women Now World-Wide Inc Formerly Indias Daughters Inc
Philanthropy
7
Nomogaia Foundation

Preventing/stopping non-state actors from violating human rights through field assessment, data analysis and transparent publication of findings

Civil Rights
8
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
9
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
10
Indigenous Peoples Rights Inc

To lead and coordinate the global initiative to address and prevent criminalization, violence, and impunity against indigenous peoples towards strengthening their collectives, solidarity, and actions.

Human Services
11
Climate Catalyst Inc

Climate catalyst sparks collective action to tackle the biggest climate challenges we face today: cutting emissions in heavy industries.

Environment
12
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.": - count it: our work is…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Human Rights Watch Inc; the most unlike its peers is Grace Farms Foundation Inc. 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

33 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 33 of the 40 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
21/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

POLARIS PROJECT: $1,955,625 · InternationalPOLARIS PROJECTTHE POPULATION COUNCIL INC: $1,020,780 · InternationalTHE POPULATION COUNCIL INCFREE THE SLAVES: $894,125 · InternationalFREE THE SLAVESCorporate Accountability Lab: $768,225 · InternationalCorporate Accountability LabSURVIVOR ALLIANCE: $689,519 · InternationalSURVIVOR ALLIANCEINTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM: $297,858 · InternationalOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $264,800 · International+6 more: $332,430 · International+6 moreTHE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER: $2,831,006 · Crime & LegalTHE HUMAN TRAFFICKING…TRANSPARENTEM LTD: $2,385,000 · Human ServicesTRANSPARENTEM LTDTIDES CENTER: $205,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTERMADE IN A FREE WORLD: $175,000 · Human ServicesMADE IN A FREE WORLD+1 more: $20,000 · Human ServicesSAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION SDSU RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $521,021 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $381,086 · EducationNew York University: $90,000 · EducationGREENPEACE FUND INC: $620,000 · EnvironmentSUSTAINABLE FISHERY ADVOCATES: $75,000 · EnvironmentClimate Rights International: $50,000 · EnvironmentThe Trustees of Columbia Univ in the City of NY: $135,966 · OtherINSTITUTE OF FOOD TECHNOLOGISTS: $117,000 · OtherAMERICAN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LABOR SOLIDARITY: $80,000 · OtherTHE INVESTMENT INTEGRATION PROJECT LLC: $64,847 · OtherINTERNATIONAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES: $59,980 · OtherINTERFAITH CENTER ON CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY: $50,000 · OtherCity college of New York: $46,904 · OtherBOUNDLESS LABOUR LENS: $46,000 · OtherCHINA LABOR WATCH INC: $130,000 · OtherJobs with Justice Education Fund: $60,000 · OtherBUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS RESOURCE CENTRE: $50,000 · OtherNEO Philanthropy Inc: $75,000 · Other+3 more: $46,009 · OtherVERITE INC: $195,000 · Arts & Culture
International$6,223,362Crime & Legal$2,831,006Human Services$2,785,000Education$992,107Environment$745,000Other$961,706Arts & Culture$195,000

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 budgetTHE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER: $2,831,006 over 8y, 58% of budgetTRANSPARENTEM LTD: $2,385,000 over 8y, 34% of budgetPOLARIS PROJECT: $1,955,625 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetTHE POPULATION COUNCIL INC: $1,020,780 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetFREE THE SLAVES: $894,125 over 8y, 7.2% of budgetCorporate Accountability Lab: $768,225 over 6y, 48% of budgetSURVIVOR ALLIANCE: $689,519 over 7y, 44% of budgetGREENPEACE FUND INC: $620,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetSAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION SDSU RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $521,021 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $381,086 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM: $297,858 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $264,800 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $205,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVERITE INC: $195,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetBUSARA CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS INC: $191,283 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetMADE IN A FREE WORLD: $175,000 over 2y, 44% of budgetCHINA LABOR WATCH INC: $130,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetINSTITUTE OF FOOD TECHNOLOGISTS: $117,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNew York University: $90,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LABOR SOLIDARITY: $80,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSUSTAINABLE FISHERY ADVOCATES: $75,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJobs with Justice Education Fund: $60,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetClimate Rights International: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNational Economic and Social Rights Initiative: $35,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSWANITI INITIATIVE: $31,009 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetCHAB DAI INTERNATIONAL: $30,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetDark Bali: $20,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetA BREEZE OF HOPE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetGRACE FARMS FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGoodWeave International: $6,147 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Humanity UnitedThe Ford FoundationWellspring Philanthro…Foundation to Promote…National Endowment fo…Novo FoundationNew Venture FundRockefeller Philanthr…The David and Lucile …Greater Houston Commu…Humanity United ActionAvina Americas Inc
Humanity UnitedCA30× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Humanity United · The Ford Foundation · Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Inc · Foundation to Promote Open Society · National Endowment for Democracy · Novo Foundation · New Venture Fund · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Humanity United Action · Avina Americas Inc

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 The Freedom Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Freedom Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Verite Inc: 19% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
5report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Freedom Fund?

Find your warmest path to The Freedom Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 40 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Freedom’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