Kentucky · Nonprofit
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,480,256 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,236,200). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $4.5M
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Foundation Inc does
Mission
The american civil liberties union of kentucky (aclu) is freedom's watchdog, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people by the constitutions of the united states and the commonwealth of kentucky.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Litigating on behalf of transgender kentuckians:our legal team continued litigating with parents of transgender youth across kentucky to challenge the healthcare portions of a law that inserts lawmakers between doctors and patients. This law prohibits essential medical care by targeting health care providers and threatening them with loss of licensure if they provide that care to minors. The law violates the fundamental rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.during fy25, the supreme court of the united states decided to review the sixth circuit's decision preventing transgender youth from receiving necessary medical care in tennessee and kentucky. While the court decided not to review the kentucky law specifically, the doj's failed challenge to the sixth circuit's decision (announced during fy26) means our case will not be able to move forward. Despite the ruling on gender-affirming care, we will never stop fighting for transgender kentuckians' right to equal protection under the law and freedom to access the things they need to live full and authentic lives.
$187,916 spent16% of program spendingContinued fallout from the movement for justice for breonna taylor:litigation related to the 2020 protests for justice for breonna taylor is still on the docket. Aclu-ky represents protestors whose first amendment rights were violated while they peacefully protested. The louisville metro police department (lmpd) used tear gas, rubber bullets, and other crowd control weaponry during the protests, causing injuries. Our lawsuit seeks lmpd policy change, as well as damages for our clients.adjacent to this litigation, the legal team partnered with 14 other community organizations to file a brief in support of the consent decree agreement the city of louisville and lmpd reached with the department of justice. After a years-long investigation, the doj found lmpd has a pattern/practice of violating the civil rights of black and brown louisvillians. A new federal administration has left the consent decree in limbo. We continue our work in fy26 to demand city leaders and lmpd move forward with the consent decree without a federal court monitor.
$461,999 spent39% of program spendingAddressing jail deaths/expanding amnesty court dockets:unfortunately, the jail deaths crisis at louisville metro department of corrections continued with more lives lost in the facility during this fiscal year. Aclu-ky continues leading a community coalition called the community stakeholders to end deaths at lmdc. Quarterly meetings with director collins and monitoring of the new healthcare contract are key activities, and our efforts to slow the flow of people into the troubled, understaffed facility are ongoing. Along with allied organizations and partners from the justice system, we hosted another amnesty court docket across three days in louisville, jefferson county to reduce the number of folks with bench warrants hanging over their heads.
$375,873 spentof which $67,382 as grants$3,565 earned by the program32% of program spendingWorking to operationalize organization's strategic plan by focusing on kentuckian's inalienable rights.
$153,038 spentof which $5,640 as grants13% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,178,826.
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.
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 $2.7M to $3.9M (+45%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Amber Duke
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $167k → $432k.
19 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% 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: $2.3M from 3 payers (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 OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 funders by total. 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 OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
82% 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 OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 87% · 2019 87% · 2020 70% · 2021 56% · 2022 59% · 2023 28% — 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
33% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
78% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC'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 $1.0M that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from funders outside Kentucky, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.
Organizations like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC
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 Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
57% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- ACLU of Kentucky · exempt
- ACLU Foundation National Org · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC: 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 OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC?
- AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,480,256 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,236,200). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% 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 OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $4,480,256 in grants to AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,236,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KENTUCKY FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 37 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing