Colorado · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY
CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY (Colorado) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $441,870 to it, the largest being THE DENVER FOUNDATION ($195,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $442k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Center for Legal Advocacy does
Mission
To protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities and older people in colorado through direct representation, advocacy, education, and legislative analysis.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Protection and advocacy for individuals with intellectual disabilities padd is the first p&a program, created by the developmental disabilities assistance and bill of rights (dd) act of 1975. P&a agencies are required by the act to pursue legal, administrative and other appropriate remedies to protect and advocates for the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities under all applicable federal and state laws. The dd act provided for the governor of each state to designate an agency to be the p&a and to assure that the p&a was, and would remain, independent of any service provider. Most entities designated as p&as are private non-profit organizations created specifically for the purpose of conducting the p&a programs. Padd is administered by the administration on intellectual and developmental disabilities (aidd) located within the administration on community living (acl) at the u.s. Department of health and human services (hhs).
$550,441 spent24% of program spendingProtection and advocacy for individuals with mental illness (paimi) - the paimi grant program is intended to protect and advocate for the rights of adults with significant (serious) mental illness (smi) and children with significant (serious) impairment or emotional disturbances through activities to ensure the enforcement of the constitution, and federal and state statutes.
$488,701 spent21% of program spendingIndividual rights on april 13, 2018, the president signed the strengthening protections for social security beneficiaries act of 2018 which authorizes the nation's protection and advocacy (p&a) system to monitor and investigate how social security representative payees are administering social security funds. The law directs p&as to conduct periodic, onsite individual or organizational representative payee reviews along with additional discretionary reviews. In addition, the p&as conduct educational visits and reviews based on allegations they receive of payee misconduct. Rep payee is administered by the social security administration.
$417,540 spent18% of program spendingClient assistance program (cap) - this program provides information on the available services and benefits under the rehabilitation act and title 1 of the americans with disabilities act to people with disabilities in colorado, especially those who have been unserved or underserved by vocational rehabilitation programs. Upon the request of clients and client applicants for services under the rehabilitation act, cap will assist and advocate for them in their relationship with projects and programs. Cap may also provide assistance and advocacy with respect to services that are directly related to the employment of the individual.174,876 . Other programs - other programs include voting protection and advocacy (pava), assistive technology (paat), traumatic brain injury (patbi), and the representative payee and protection and advocacy for beneficiaries of social security. 709,857.
$884,733 spent38% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,341,415.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.4M to $2.3M (+63%).
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: 2017 92% · 2018 90% · 2019 90% · 2020 89% · 2021 86% · 2022 91% · 2023 86% · 2024 95% · 2025 73%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $55k → $26k.
5 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 96% 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 CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY’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
CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
96% 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 CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 67% · 2019 61% · 2020 46% · 2021 41% · 2022 46% · 2023 80% — 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.
Where its funders are
96% of CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY'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 $18k that is directly attributable, 86% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 2 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $424k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20.4M on record — $20.4M federal, $210 state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$12.7M
- Department of Education$4.4M
- Social Security Administration$3.3M
- FEDERAL$210
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY: 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 CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY?
- CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY (Colorado) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $441,870 to it, the largest being THE DENVER FOUNDATION ($195,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $441,870 in grants to CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY?
- THE DENVER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $195,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR LEGAL ADVOCACY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Center for Legal Advocacy →
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 7 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