Iowa · Nonprofit
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,788,466 to it, the largest being DUANE HINKLE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($740,319). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Iowa does
Mission
The foundation works to defend and promote the constitution of the united states, focusing especially on the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and 14th amendments. The foundation also works to defend and promote the constitution of the state of iowa. It accomplishes these objectives through litigation and legal advocacy as well as through public education and outreach all done to secure and advance the civil liberties values which are reflected in those and other amendments and provisions of the constitution
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Legal program services: (1) win on behalf of numerous iowa journalists and media groups challenging iowa governor's failure to provide timely access to public records for up to 18 months, with successful settlement on remand to district court, requiring ongoing compliance. (2) litigated case to protect abortion access in iowa by temporarily blocking iowa's extreme abortion ban, taking effect around six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant. (3) favorable settlement in a disciplinary post-conviction relief case, brought on behalf of an iowa inmate who challenged unreliable prison methods of drug testing legal mail, as well as the alarmingly low "some evidence" burden of proof required to convict an inmate of a disciplinary violation resulting in loss of "earned time and loss of access to rehabilitative programming. (4) litigated case challenging iowa's book ban, "don't say gay or trans and forced outing law, resulting in a temporary block of the book ban and "don't say gay or trans" provisions of the law from taking effect statewide. (5) litigated case challenging iowa's covid-19 prohibition on masking requirements. (6) litigated a free speech challenge to iowa's…
$577,039 spent36% of program spendingLegislative and policy program services: (1) increased our full-time presence at the iowa state legislature, drafting legislation, providing advice on and advocating for pro-civil liberties legislation, with an emphasis on fixing racial disparities in housing law, defending due process for people subject to abusive state agencies. (2) continued our one-on-one outreach to newly elected legislators and legislators whom we had not worked with, to strong results in our core issue areas. (3) advocated for the first amendment by supporting an anti-slapp (strategic lawsuit against public participation) bill. (4) successfully advocated against two new discriminatory proposals that would have hurt transgender people. (5) were formally invited by the legislative majority to serve as opposition to repeal of lgbt rights in the iowa civil rights act (succeeded). (6) advocated for change in law to expand iowa's open records law. (7) advocated for racial justice reform through continuing to manage the bipartisan effort to expunge unproved eviction allegations, and allow for some completed evictions to be expunged, an issue with a significantly disparate impact on african-american women and…
$365,839 spent23% of program spendingPublic education program services: (1) recruited and trained nearly 9,000 more reproductive freedom education team volunteers in a 12 month period from this time last year. (2) we obliterated our goal of 10,000 total volunteers by the end of 2024, and our volunteer base is now 7000% of what it was when we started. (3) expanded the "reproductive rights action team", to educate iowans about the status of reproductive freedom in light of changes in state and federal law. (4) expanded aclu volunteer leadership in every iowa house and iowa senate legislative district. (5) performed "we are the reproductive freedom majority" signature drive; goal was 7,500 signatures; we reached roughly 5,500 and will deliver to each state legislator. (6) the new "capitol corps" program brought constituents to the legislature every two weeks, for a total of five day-long visits of seven total; met with three dozen legislators. (7) aclu's "capitol corps" was critical in building deeper relationships with state legislators, staff, and in connecting people to each other and their government. (8) our 38 participants represented roughly 1/3 of all legislative districts. (9) after hitting our initial goal of…
$654,744 spent41% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,597,622.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $1.8M to $2.7M (+44%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Stringer Mark
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $115k → $344k.
11 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
58% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 74% · 2019 60% · 2020 53% · 2021 39% · 2022 45% · 2023 35% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
70% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
58% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $748k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Iowa, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- American Civil Liberties Union Inc · exempt
- American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc · exempt
- American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA?
- AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,788,466 to it, the largest being DUANE HINKLE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($740,319). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,788,466 in grants to AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA?
- DUANE HINKLE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $740,319 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF IOWA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Iowa →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 18 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing