California · Nonprofit
Critical Resistance
Critical Resistance (California) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,363,326 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($1,513,665). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $905k
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $7.4M
- Net assets
- $3.5M
What Critical Resistance does
Mission
Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement to end the prison industrial complex (PIC) by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. We believe that basic necessities such as food, shelter, and freedom are what really make our communities secure. As such, our work is part of global struggles against inequality and powerlessness. The success of the movement requires that it reflect communities most affected by the PIC. Because we seek to abolish the PIC, we cannot support any work that extends its life or scope.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
National Work - Strategic Communication activities have included: Wrote and distributed press releases; organized and facilitated spokesperson trainings; distributed regular written communication to CRs national email list; interviewed with national radio and press; organized and participated in digital events and webinars; consistent social media communication; Produced and distributed The Abolitionist, a bilingual newspaper written by imprisoned people and non-imprisoned people, sent to over 5,000 imprisoned people, and over 300 non-imprisoned people; supported the development and circulation of nationally oriented resources around criminal justice, sentencing, and organizing strategy. Leadership Development activities have included: Conducted capacity trainings and workshops with our staff and members in areas including campaign planning and implementation, base building, fundraising, media advocacy, organizational development, and strategic planning; provided trainings, workshops, and presentations for community members and organizations across the country; undergoing and providing trainings for organizational security; created a new position for a Campaigns Manager; hired, on…
$763,466 spent91% of program spendingOther Program Accomplishments Combined - Strategic Communications activities have included: Supported the creation of media materials for NYC, LA, Portland, and Central Appalachia coalitional work; organized and facilitated spokesperson trainings in NYC and LA; distributed written communication to CRs Portland, NYC, LA, and Central Appalachia regional email lists; and interviewed with regional radio and press, produced educational materials and graphics related to campaigns. Maintained the NYC, LA, and Portland prisoner mail programs; created press releases and communications materials to support advocacy of immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, as well as what the Portland city budget could fund instead of policing; created and distributed communication related to the Dignity Not Detention campaign in NY, the campaign against FCI Letcher in Kentucky, and the work to reduce the policing budget in Portland.Leadership Development activities have included: Conducted capacity building trainings and workshops with our Portland, NYC, LA, and Central Appalachia members in areas including regionally specific campaign planning and implementation, base…
$47,716 spent6% of program spendingOakland Work - Strategic Communications activities have included: Wrote and distributed press releases; organized and participated in regionally aimed press conferences, organized and facilitated spokesperson trainings; distributed written communication to CRs Oakland regional email list; created written reports; regularly communicated over social media pages; published opinion pieces in local and state press outlets; interviewed with regional radio and press; regularly participated in the communications committees of a CA statewide coalition.Leadership Development activities have included:Conducted capacity trainings and workshops with our Oakland members in areas including regionally specific coalition and campaign planning and implementation (Close CA Prisons), base building, fundraising, media advocacy and organizational development; provided trainings, workshops, and presentations for community members, coalition partners, and organizations across the Bay Area.Organizational Development activities have included:Held a retreat for CR Oakland development and annual chapter goals and workplan development; coordinated regional grassroots fundraising activities; partnered with…
$30,406 spent4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $841,588.
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 2023 to 2024, from $3.3M to $4.2M (+27%).
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.
96% of Critical Resistance’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Kim Diehl
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $133k → $817k.
26 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 Critical Resistance’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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
Critical Resistance has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
70% 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 Critical Resistance.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 62% · 2019 37% · 2020 31% · 2021 27% · 2022 27% · 2023 18% — 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
29% of Critical Resistance's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
69% of Critical Resistance'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 $2.3M that is directly attributable, 81% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
Critical Resistance holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Critical Resistance
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
82%
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 Critical Resistance: 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 Critical Resistance?
- Critical Resistance (California) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,363,326 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($1,513,665). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Critical Resistance have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $7,363,326 in grants to Critical Resistance, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Critical Resistance?
- NETWORK FOR GOOD is the largest funder on record, with $1,513,665 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Critical Resistance 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.
Play a game about who funds Critical Resistance →
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 67 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