Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC
ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 317 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,317,589 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($4,012,375). 207 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 317
- Grants received
- $32M
- Net assets
- $23M
What Animal Legal Defense Fund Inc does
Mission
The animal legal defense fund's mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The animal legal defense fund accomplishes this mission by filing high impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training for animal cruelty case stakeholders to ensure justice for victim animals, supporting tough animal protection legislation and fighting legislation harmful to animals, and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Litigation programthe litigation program files high impact lawsuits against individuals and industries that exploit animals, including factory farms, puppy mills, research laboratories, and roadside zoos. The program litigates cases in state and federal courts with the goal of stopping abusive practices and setting groundbreaking precedent that will establish justice for animals in the legal system. In addition to suing animal abusers, the litigation program often sues state and federal governments and agencies to invalidate laws and regulations that harm animals; and intervenes in litigation to defend animal protection laws when they are under siege from industries that abuse animals.
$2,653,100 spent$545,338 earned by the program22% of program spendingCriminal justice programthe criminal justice program focuses on protecting the lives and advancing the legal interests of animal victims by working to achieve the best possible outcomes in animal cruelty cases. The program is staffed by attorneys and other experts in animal cruelty casework who provide free legal assistance to key animal cruelty stakeholders, including prosecutors, law enforcement, judges, veterinarians, mental health professionals, social workers, and courtroom animal advocates. This assistance includes support at all stages of a potential cruelty case, including legal research; amicus briefs; trainings for professionals; investigations and non-criminal interventions; and grant funding to help cover the costs of caring for animal victims, forensic work, and securing expert witnesses. In addition, the program produces model animal protection laws and an annual rankings report and compendium for all u.s. Jurisdictions and works closely with lawmakers and advocates to help strengthen existing criminal cruelty laws.
$1,742,401 spentof which $510,244 as grants14% of program spendingLegislative affairs programthe legislative affairs program works at the local, state, and federal levels to advance legislation and regulations to protect the lives and promote the interests of animals and to oppose legislation and regulations that would be harmful to their welfare and interests. The program also provides educational opportunities for law students, advocates, and legal professionals by providing engagement at conferences, supporter events, and through online forums. Finally, the program works with the animal legal defense fund's other departments to develop campaigns to support these initiatives and works crossprogrammatically to identify opportunities to expand legal protections for animals addressing strategic legal issues in the areas of civil and criminal law.
$1,382,137 spent11% of program spendingAnimal law programthe animal legal defense fund's animal law program works closely with law students and law professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law. Working to expand animal law into the curriculum of every law school in the country, the animal law program collaborates with students, faculty, and school administrations to facilitate the development of animal law courses and assists students in forming animal legal defense fund student chapters. As part of the animal legal defense fund's animal law program, the organization makes grants available to various organizations, legal institutions, individuals, and animal legal defense fund student chapters at law schools across the country to support the efforts to inform, educate, and take action for animal protection laws. The animal legal defense fund grants are critical to encouraging the next generation of animal lawyers.pro bono programthe animal legal defense fund's pro bono program is the nation's largest legal pro bono network for animal protection. The program partners with attorneys and pro bono coordinators across the u.s. To expand the practice of animal law. Collectively, legal professionals donate…
$6,524,296 spentof which $157,861 as grants53% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,301,934.
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 $18M to $22M (+21%).
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.
86% of ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Chris Green
Executive director
Board chair
Leslie Barcus
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 67 funders to 129 funders, grant income rose $2.2M → $5.1M.
46 of 317 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 317 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
ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
68% 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 ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 44% · 2019 15% · 2020 24% · 2021 19% · 2022 13% · 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
43% of ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
67% of ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND 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 $11M that is directly attributable, 96% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 40 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $22M arriving through sponsors registered in 23 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
ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND 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 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
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Animal Legal Defense Legislative Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND 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 ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC?
- ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 317 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,317,589 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($4,012,375). 207 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC have?
- IRS filings report 317 organizations giving $32,317,589 in grants to ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC, 207 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $4,012,375 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC 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.
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 317 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