California · Nonprofit
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $620,380 to it, the largest being KIANI FOUNDATION ($300,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $620k
- Net assets
- $8.8M
What American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California does
Mission
See schedule o for detailsthe organization defends the civil liberties enshrined in the us constitution and the bill of rights through policy advocacy, media advocacy, and organizing. It fights to secure and protect the civil rights of all people - including women, youth, people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, immigrants and refugees, members of minority religions, disabled people, people experiencing poverty or houselessness, and people who are incarcerated.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The organization provided public policy research and advocacy, as well as public education and technical guidance on issues, pertaining to civil liberties and civil rights. Among other things, it helped return deported veterans to the u.s., pass a bill ensuring all students have a safe learning environment regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, stop legislation that would have increased the criminalization of unhoused californians, prevent legislation that would have allowed for the proliferation of police attack dogs, and make los angeles a sanctuary city.
$2,449,553 spentof which $46,000 as grants65% of program spendingAclu of southern california has an agreement with the national office whereby certain revenues are shared according to a set formula revenue subject to this agreement include received membership renewal, special appeals, and bequests.
$708,452 spent19% of program spendingAclu of southern california's share of expenses for legislative activities performed by aclu california action.
$600,599 spent16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,758,604.
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 $5.7M to $8.5M (+49%).
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. 2 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
Hector Villagra
Executive director (thru 12/24)
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $13k → $9k.
1 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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: $1.2M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’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 OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 30% · 2019 95% · 2020 62% · 2021 37% · 2022 94% · 2023 52% — growing more concentrated.
“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
31% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
95% of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- ACLU Foundation of Southern California · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA?
- AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $620,380 to it, the largest being KIANI FOUNDATION ($300,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $620,380 in grants to AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA?
- KIANI FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 19 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