Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY
AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,835,654 to it, the largest being WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC ($6,274,393). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 96
- Grants received
- $34M
- Net assets
- $8.2M
What American Constitution Society for Law & Policy does
Mission
The american constitution society for law and policy (acs) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and redress the founding failures of our constitution and enduring inequities in our laws in pursuit of realized equality.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Network advancement: the department of network advancement is responsible for strengthening acs' network and member engagement to build a more effective and inclusive progressive legal community. This department focuses on ensuring that acs' mission is carried out at the state and local level while serving the needs of its members. It manages acs' student and lawyer chapters, ensures continuity of membership throughout one's legal career, provides career assistance and mentorship both to students and lawyers, and ensures that acs is mobilizing its members to meet needs at national, state, and local levels where the network can help add capacity to the broader progressive community.
$1,053,224 spentof which $5,000 as grants$48,266 earned by the program30% of program spendingPolicy and program: the department of policy and program develops and promotes a progressive vision of the law. This department leads acs' effort to shape and articulate this progressive vision by working with legal scholars, thought leaders, and allied organizations to produce written works, public programming, and convenings. Through these activities, the department and acs advance constitutional, legal, and policy concepts that support the work of the progressive legal movement and provide resources for law students, lawyers, opinion leaders, and policymakers.
$761,546 spentof which $1,500 as grants21% of program spendingConvention: the annual acs national convention brings together lawyers, judges, academics, policymakers, and law students for a series of substantive panels, networking opportunities, and presentations from high-profile members of the progressive legal community. The convention's substantive programming focuses on a wide range of legal and policy issues central to acs' mission featuring panelists who are experts in their fields. Convention attendees can participate in networking opportunities, including those organized by legal practice area or geography. The convention also features a student leadership retreat. The convention creates community, stimulates thought, and energizes attendees to work toward accomplishing acs' mission.
$674,352 spentof which $18,913 as grants$72,525 earned by the program19% of program spendingStrategic engagement: the department of strategic engagement focuses on coalition building and execution of special projects to advance acs' progressive legal vision; raise the profile of acs as the go-to resource for policymakers, reporters, and allies on critical legal issues; and engage in efforts to educate the public on pressing legal issues.
$554,104 spent16% of program spendingCommunications: the efforts of acs' communications department include media outreach to promote acs' positions, programs, experts, and resources; developing and enhancing acs' public platforms, including its website, social media presence, and its broken law podcast; and the development and marketing of promotional materials, including graphics and video.
$498,997 spent14% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,542,223.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.8M to $7.8M (+34%).
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 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Roscoe Jones Jr
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 41 funders, grant income rose $3.3M → $4.3M.
19 of 96 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 96 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 CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
36% 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 CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 36% · 2019 22% · 2020 14% · 2021 25% · 2022 18% · 2023 32% — 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
39% of AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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 CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 25 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY: 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 CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY?
- AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,835,654 to it, the largest being WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC ($6,274,393). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY have?
- IRS filings report 96 organizations giving $33,835,654 in grants to AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY?
- WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,274,393 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Constitution Society for Law & Policy →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 96 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