Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 145 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,892,785 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,754,702). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 145
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $26M
What Americans United for Separation of Church and State does
Mission
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the separation of religion and government as the only way to ensure freedom of religion, including the right to believe or not believe, for all.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Educational and publication division: provide both print and electronic educational material for distribution to the general public regarding the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.
$5,105,821 spent$1,996 earned by the program49% of program spendingField services division: maintain close contact with various government leaders and faith leaders nationwide. Alert members to proposed legislation on church-state separation issues.
$2,728,849 spentof which $21,546 as grants$52,835 earned by the program26% of program spendingLegal division: legal expenses incurred in the defense of the separation of church and state.
$1,798,355 spent$26,373 earned by the program17% of program spendingLegal programs and networks: bring together law students working as summer legal interns at the organization and other leading nonprofit litigation groups. The legal academy will focus on using high-impact litigation to protect the rights of marginalized people. The program represents the organization's collective commitment to cultivate a new generation of leaders who can shape the law into the future. The legal academy will teach hard litigating skills, philosophy and strategy, and through its continuing education and alumni networks, it will also forge a multi-generational community to bolster upcoming leaders.
$645,398 spent6% of program spendingTrustee and national advisory councile meetings - to further the organization's mission.
$50,102 spent0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,328,525.
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 2020 to 2021, from $16M to $23M (+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.
91% of AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Rachel Laser
President and CEO
Board chair
Amy Norr Esq
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 56 funders, grant income rose $737k → $2.0M.
47 of 145 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 145 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
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
77% 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 AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 37% · 2019 40% · 2020 41% · 2021 28% · 2022 28% · 2023 27% — 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
46% of AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
75% of AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE'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 $3.5M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 29 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE's revenue grew 103% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 152 civil rights nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: 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 AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?
- AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 145 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,892,785 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,754,702). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE have?
- IRS filings report 145 organizations giving $13,892,785 in grants to AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, 82 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,754,702 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE 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 Americans United for Separation of Church and State →
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 145 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