Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
DC Affordable Law Firm
DC Affordable Law Firm (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,692,189 to it, the largest being THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BAR FOUNDATION ($2,088,884). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $5.7M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What DC Affordable Law Firm does
Mission
DC Affordable Law Firm delivers accessible justice to modest-income DC residents who do not qualify for traditional sources of free civil legal services and cannot afford standard representation. Our innovative programming expands access to justice by empowering community members with unmet legal needs while also launching the careers of public interest lawyers committed to accessible justice. Through our dignified no-cost and low-cost representation options, DCALF bridges the gap in legal services, changes DC's legal landscape, and makes accessible justice a reality. Through our innovative partnership between DCALF, law firms, and law schools, DC Affordable Law Firm advances our two-fold purpose: Advancing economic justice for DC residents from modest and low-income households unable to afford market-based legal services, and empowering rising attorneys to become skilled public interest attorneys and lifelong champions for equity and justice. Since its inception in 2015, DCALF has provided affordable and - as of 2022 -free family law, immigration law, and heirs' property, probate, and estate planning legal services to more than 3,000 DC residents, reaching hundreds more through…
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Through innovative programming, DCALF expands representation options in critical areas of need, dismantling deep-rooted inequities in the legal system by closing justice gaps and creating pathways to economic security for DC residents through direct representation in family law, probate and estate planning, and immigration practices where a lawyer can make all the difference in helping a family maintain employment, protect an intergenerational home from foreclosure, or escape an unsafe marriage. Each year, DCALF serves nearly 500 individuals, breaking down barriers to legal representation and using the power of the law to advance justice and uplift those we are privileged to serve. DCALF's legal services are provided by a network of permanent staff managing, supervising, and staff attorneys, fellows/associates, with our impact augmented by the engagement of pro bono attorneys from top DC firms who mentor rising DCALF attorneys, co-counsel complex litigation, or represent clients under the guidance and mentorship of veteran DCALF attorneys. In addition to empowering families through access to legal services on a case-by-case basis, DCALF drives systemic change through legislative…
$2,310,076 spent$5,180 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,310,076.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.0M to $1.7M (+64%).
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: 2021 12% · 2023 35% · 2024 33% · 2025 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of DC Affordable Law Firm’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Gabrielle Majewski
Executive Director
Board chair
Nancy Noonan
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $432k → $1.2M.
8 of 31 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.
From the IRS filings of DC Affordable Law Firm’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
DC Affordable Law Firm leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
84% 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 DC Affordable Law Firm.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 67% · 2019 59% · 2020 94% · 2021 54% · 2022 52% · 2023 58% — 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
45% of DC Affordable Law Firm's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
81% of DC Affordable Law Firm's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
DC Affordable Law Firm runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like DC Affordable Law Firm
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% 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 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DC Affordable Law Firm: 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 DC Affordable Law Firm?
- DC Affordable Law Firm (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,692,189 to it, the largest being THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BAR FOUNDATION ($2,088,884). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DC Affordable Law Firm have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $5,692,189 in grants to DC Affordable Law Firm, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DC Affordable Law Firm?
- THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BAR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,088,884 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DC Affordable Law Firm 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 DC Affordable Law Firm →
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 31 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