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Oregon · Nonprofit

Civil Liberties Defense Center

Civil Liberties Defense Center (Oregon) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,265,799 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($860,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.4M
Funders on record
28
Grants received
$2.3M
Net assets
$1.0M
15/28 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 70%
01What it does

What Civil Liberties Defense Center does

Mission

CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFENSE CENTER (CLDC) educates the general public about their rights and privileges under the US Constitution and provides free legal support to climate and social justice activists.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Civil Liberties Defense Center's "Justice in Action" program 1. Provides legal defense for environmental and social justice activists and movements; and 2.Protects civil liberties through impact litigation. 2025 program priorities included federal and state legal representation for environmental, climate, and indigenous activists, reproductive and racial justice, as well as other social justice causes. We defend organizations and individuals fighting back against Lawfare and SLAPP suits, as well as litigating civil rights and police misconduct lawsuits.

    $332,718 spent$7,939 earned by the program
    62% of program spending
  2. CLDC's "Dissent and Democracy" program educates and empowers activists, organizations, funders and attorney's with legal information and best practices for resiliently engaging in political change work, including by offering organizational memberships to CLDC for orgs without attorney's or legal support. Program priorities included a wide menu of online and in-person "Know your rights and risks" trainings, digital security, and movement lawyer trainings and mentorship for law students, lawyers and legal workers. Our goal is to provide accessibility and language translation options when requested and/or available. We partner with other NGO's around the country, including in several national coalitions to defend vibrant civic space and support movements intent on building a healthier planet for all.

    $201,627 spent
    38% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $534,345.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($462k) Expenses 100 ($409k) Net assets 100 ($96k)2019 Revenue 163 ($756k) Expenses 141 ($575k) Net assets 323 ($310k)2020 Revenue 129 ($598k) Expenses 144 ($590k) Net assets 331 ($318k)2021 Revenue 233 ($1.1M) Expenses 197 ($808k) Net assets 609 ($585k)2022 Revenue 153 ($706k) Expenses 210 ($860k) Net assets 353 ($340k)2023 Revenue 240 ($1.1M) Expenses 264 ($1.1M) Net assets 373 ($358k)2024 Revenue 167 ($773k) Expenses 146 ($599k) Net assets 556 ($535k)2025 Revenue 293 ($1.4M) Expenses 216 ($883k) Net assets 1051 ($1.0M)
'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (293)Expenses (216)Net assets (1051)Peer revenue range

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 $542k to $1.0M (+93%).

$103k
$318k
$332k
$607k
$356k
$366k
$542k
$1.0M
'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 57%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

99% of Civil Liberties Defense Center’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,024 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$53k
’18
$180k
’19
$8k
’20
$268k
’21
−$154k
’22
$29k
’23
$174k
’24
$473k
’25
13
months of
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.

'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed1311101111769
Joined·+0+3+4+0+3+3+4
No longer listed·2430741
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $29k → $260k.

7 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 Civil Liberties Defense Center’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

Civil Liberties Defense Center leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

39% 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 Civil Liberties Defense Center.

38%
largest funder
61%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 30% · 2019 39% · 2020 43% · 2021 50% · 2022 42% · 2023 38% — 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

44% of Civil Liberties Defense Center's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

Civil Liberties Defense Center draws 84% of its grant income from funders outside Oregon, across 8 states in all.

MN
NY
OR
IA
PA
CA
DE
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Oregon out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $705k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Civil Liberties Defense Center runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.

Operating margin35% · top quartile
Months of reserve12.9mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like Civil Liberties Defense Center

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 Oregon

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

61% of spending goes to programs.

Program 61%Management 33%Fundraising 6%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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 36 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Civil Liberties Defense Center: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Civil Liberties Defense Center?
Civil Liberties Defense Center (Oregon) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,265,799 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($860,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Civil Liberties Defense Center have?
IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $2,265,799 in grants to Civil Liberties Defense Center, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Civil Liberties Defense Center?
THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $860,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Civil Liberties Defense Center find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Civil Liberties Defense Center →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 28 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