California · Nonprofit
Counsel for Justice
Counsel for Justice (California) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $621,383 to it, the largest being California Access to Justice Commission ($214,500). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $621k
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Counsel for Justice does
Mission
CFJ promotes access to justice for underserved communities seeking to assert their legal rights. Our pro bono-based projects bridge the gap for underserved communities seeking safety, stability, and justice. CFJ engages volunteer attorneys to provide legal services, empowering people with knowledge and support to effectively navigate legal challenges.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Immigration Legal Assistance Project - Counsel for Justice provided free immigration legal services in approximately 4,000 cases in 2025, including self-help services, limited-scope assistance, and attorney representation. The project assisted low-income immigrants in Los Angeles County with immigration applications, legal information, document preparation, and representation in appropriate cases. These services helped clients pursue lawful status, work authorization, family stability, and protection from harm. Outcomes included lawful permanent resident approvals, work authorizations, green card renewals, replacement citizenship documents, advance parole applications, and FOIA requests.
$704,047 spentof which $25,706 as grants$72,172 earned by the program45% of program spendingDomestic Violence Project - Counsel for Justice provided free legal services to survivors of domestic violence through its courthouse-based restraining order clinic. In 2025, the project assisted 1,692 people by helping survivors understand their legal options, prepare restraining order applications, and seek court orders to protect their safety, housing, children, and stability. Services were provided by staff and volunteer attorneys, with support focused on helping survivors make informed choices, present their experiences clearly and request appropriate legal protections.
$449,758 spentof which $50,293 as grants29% of program spendingHousing Project - Counsel for Justice provided free legal services in 184 housing cases in 2025, many involving veterans facing eviction or other housing instability in Los Angeles County. Services included attorney representation and a courthouse-based self-help Answer clinic that helped tenants respond to unlawful detainer complaints, prepare court forms, understand the eviction process, and participate more effectively in court proceedings. These services helped tenants protect their housing stability and avoid losing cases because of procedural barriers.
$281,705 spent18% of program spendingVeterans Legal Services Project - Counsel for Justice provided free legal services to veterans in Los Angeles County to resolve legal barriers related to California criminal records and outstanding traffic citations. In 2025, the project assisted 51 veterans and helped resolve 128 record-clearing matters, including expungements and traffic citation issues. These services helped veterans reduce barriers to employment, housing, financial stability, and self-sufficiency.
$131,275 spent8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,566,785.
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.
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 $3.4M to $3.8M (+9%).
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 13% · 2018 13% · 2019 35% · 2020 51% · 2021 58% · 2022 68% · 2023 57% · 2024 63% · 2025 67%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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 broadened from 4 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $39k → $88k.
4 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $116k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Los Angeles County Bar Association (Lacba)). These are real filings, and they are not money Counsel for Justice raised.
From the IRS filings of Counsel for Justice’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
Counsel for Justice leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
76% 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 Counsel for Justice.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 79% · 2019 74% · 2020 62% · 2021 60% · 2022 47% · 2023 40% — 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
18% of Counsel for Justice'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
96% of Counsel for Justice's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $129k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Government funding Counsel for Justice receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record.
- Department of Justice$1.1M
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 Counsel for Justice
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
59% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 Counsel for Justice: 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 Counsel for Justice?
- Counsel for Justice (California) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $621,383 to it, the largest being California Access to Justice Commission ($214,500). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Counsel for Justice have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $621,383 in grants to Counsel for Justice, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Counsel for Justice?
- California Access to Justice Commission is the largest funder on record, with $214,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Counsel for Justice find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 21 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