Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION
AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $124,750 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($99,750). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $25k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $125k
- Net assets
- $32k
What American Tort Reform Foundation does
Mission
The American Tort Reform Foundation (atrf) was organized as a not-for-profit organization under the laws of the district of columbia on august 8, 1997. Atrf was established to educuate the general public regarding the civil justice system and tort law issues. Atrf accomplishes its mission by conducting surveys and research on the cost, operation, and effects of tort laws on our legal system and society as well as collecting, publishing, and disseminating statistical and economic information relevant to the legal system and society.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Program
The judicial hellholes program serves to increase public awareness of jurisdictions where equal justice under the law is denied to parties involved in lawsuits.
$80,525 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $80,525.
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 2021 to 2022, from $208k to $127k (−39%).
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.
100% of AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (99% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Melissa H Brown
Chair
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $5k → $20k.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 TORT REFORM FOUNDATION’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 TORT REFORM FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 TORT REFORM FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2020 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
84% of AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION'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 $20k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $105k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 TORT REFORM FOUNDATION's revenue fell 71% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,607 crime & legal nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION
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.
Public support
27%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION: 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 TORT REFORM FOUNDATION?
- AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $124,750 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($99,750). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $124,750 in grants to AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION?
- CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $99,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN TORT REFORM FOUNDATION 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 Tort Reform →
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 3 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