How do I find funders for a civil rights and advocacy nonprofit in California?

Start with the funders already giving to civil rights and advocacy in California, currently Tides Foundation, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, The California Endowment. Then look at who funds the civil rights and advocacy organizations on this page that resemble yours, and add the national funders reaching into California from out of state.

How much grant money goes to civil rights and advocacy in California?

$3.5B reached 1,409 civil rights and advocacy organizations in California, from 4,993 funders. 52% came from funders also based in California.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the two years with complete coverage. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Funding · California · Civil rights and advocacy

Who funds civil rights and advocacy in California

Civil rights and advocacy funding in California is unusually spread out: no single organization draws even 12%, though Tides Advocacy leads, and the money reaches 1,409 groups.

$3.5B

granted

1,409

organizations

52%

from in-state

The short version

4,993 funders gave $3.5B to 1,409 civil rights and advocacy organizations in California across the FY2022 and FY2023 IRS filings.
52% of that came from funders also based in California; the rest reached in from out of state.
The largest funder of civil rights and advocacy in California is Tides Foundation, at $265M.
The civil rights and advocacy organization drawing the most is Tides Advocacy, at $282M.

Largest funders of civil rights and advocacy in California

The funders giving the most to civil rights and advocacy organizations in California, in-state and out. Pick one for its dossier.

1Tides Foundation$265M 2Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund$147M 3The California Endowment$145M 4National Philanthropic Trust$126M 5The Ford Foundation$124M 6Silicon Valley Community Foundation$94M 7Tides Center$85M 8The James Irvine Foundation$80M 9Thousand Currents$70M 10The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation$58M

Civil rights and advocacy organizations in California that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

1,399 other civil rights and advocacy organizations$2.4B

Tides Advocacy$282M Global Fund for Women Inc$156M

How to find civil rights and advocacy funders in California

1
Start with the funders already active in California
The funders giving the most to civil rights and advocacy in California are Tides Foundation, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, The California Endowment. A funder already writing civil rights and advocacy checks in your state is the warmest place to begin.
2
See who funds organizations like yours
Open the civil rights and advocacy organizations on this page that resemble yours in size or work, and look at who funds them. Shared funders are the strongest signal of fit.
3
Add the out-of-state funders reaching in
48% of civil rights and advocacy money in California comes from funders elsewhere, so national civil rights and advocacy funders are worth approaching even if they are not based in California.

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a civil rights and advocacy nonprofit in California?: Start with the funders already giving to civil rights and advocacy in California, currently Tides Foundation, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, The California Endowment. Then look at who funds the civil rights and advocacy organizations on this page that resemble yours, and add the national funders reaching into California from out of state.
Who is the largest civil rights and advocacy funder in California?: Tides Foundation gives the most to civil rights and advocacy organizations in California, $265M across the 2022 and 2023 filings.
How much grant money goes to civil rights and advocacy in California?: $3.5B reached 1,409 civil rights and advocacy organizations in California, from 4,993 funders. 52% came from funders also based in California.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the two years with complete coverage. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

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 camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Giving abroad

which US foundations fund each country

Each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear; location is the recipient's state on its most recent filing. Grant figures are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, among recipients resolved by EIN. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.