Skip to content

Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM

CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $90,000 to it, the largest being THE WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI FOUNDATION ($40,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$84k
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$90k
Net assets
$-50347
2/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What Consumers for a Responsive Legal System does

Mission

Consumers for a Responsive Legal System works to make the legal system more accessible, affordable, and accountable to its users.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Programs

  1. Advocacy: Advocate for a more user-friendly legal system through changes to regulations and laws governing lawyers as well as changes to lawyers' business practices. Responsive Law is the only group speaking for consumers before the American Bar Association and at numerous state-level proceedings.

    $34,734 spent
    70% of program spending
  2. Education: Educate people about obstacles to affordable legal help and about how to more effectively use the legal system, including information about how to effectively use a lawyer and alternatives to traditional use of a lawyer such as limited-scope representation, non-lawyer services, and self-help.

    $12,405 spent
    25% of program spending
  3. Self-Help Resources: Provide information and resources for people using the legal system without the assistance of a lawyer.

    $2,481 spent
    5% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $49,620.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($146k) Expenses 100 ($110k) Net assets 100 ($21k)2018 Revenue 81 ($118k) Expenses 108 ($118k) Net assets 101 ($21k)2019 Revenue 65 ($94k) Expenses 104 ($115k) Net assets 6 ($1k)2020 Revenue 79 ($116k) Expenses 107 ($117k) Net assets 2 ($345)2021 Revenue 77 ($113k) Expenses 110 ($120k) Net assets -34 ($-7124)2022 Revenue 76 ($111k) Expenses 115 ($126k) Net assets -105 ($-22238)2023 Revenue 53 ($78k) Expenses 80 ($88k) Net assets -152 ($-32194)2024 Revenue 47 ($69k) Expenses 79 ($87k) Net assets -236 ($-49848)2025 Revenue 57 ($84k) Expenses 77 ($84k) Net assets -238 ($-50347)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (57)Expenses (77)Net assets (-238)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 2019 to 2020, from $4k to $44k (+1017%).

$21k
$22k
$4k
$44k
$38k
$18k
$8k
$10k
$8k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (65% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 26,798 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$36k
’17
$258
’18
−$20k
’19
−$899
’20
−$7k
’21
−$15k
’22
−$10k
’23
−$18k
’24
−$499
’25

Leadership and staff

Chief executive

Tom Gordon

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $15k → $20k.

3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM’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

CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM.

44%
largest funder
89%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2022 50% · 2023 50% — 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.

Where its funders are

56% of CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM'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 $40k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 1 state.

CA

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

’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM's revenue fell 43% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−1% · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−7% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,277 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2025

Organizations like CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM

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

05Profile & governance

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

Public support

69%

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
MA
OR
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM: 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 CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM?
CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $90,000 to it, the largest being THE WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI FOUNDATION ($40,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $90,000 in grants to CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM?
THE WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $40,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CONSUMERS FOR A RESPONSIVE LEGAL SYSTEM 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 Consumers for a Responsive Legal System →

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 4 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