New York · Nonprofit
DRUG POLICY ACTION
DRUG POLICY ACTION (New York) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,835,372 to it, the largest being OPEN SOCIETY ACTION FUND INC ($16,250,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.6M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $23M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Drug Policy Action does
Mission
Drug Policy Action seeks to reform federal, state, and local drug policies. We educate the public about drug laws and involve them in our efforts to ensure that government policies on these issues advance the public interest.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
General advocacy:Drug Policy Action works to end the war on drugs and build a better approach in its place through legislative and ballot measure advocacy. We have three major goals:1. Treat drug use as a health issue by reforming policies and law to increase access to addiction services and reduce the role of the criminal legal system2. Promote family safety and economic security by reforming policies and laws to expand access to housing, public benefits, and education
$6,661,996 spentof which $6,605,000 as grants99% of program spendingLobbying activities:in connection with our purpose of promoting social welfare through influencing policy and legislation, Drug Policy Action lobbies federal, state, and local legislative officials and their staff in an attempt to persuade them to sponsor, promote, and/or support policies and legislation that improve drug policies and laws.
$96,000 spent1% of program spendingBallot initiatives & legislative campaigns:Drug Policy Action, in partnership with ground game texas, advanced and secured passage of proposition r, the dallas freedom act, which decriminalized marijuana on the november 2024 ballot.
$4,000 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,761,996.
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 2017 to 2018, from $40M to $28M (−30%).
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.
93% of DRUG POLICY ACTION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
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.
Chief executive
Kassandra Frederique
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $65k → $6.5M.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 DRUG POLICY ACTION’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
DRUG POLICY ACTION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 DRUG POLICY ACTION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 58% · 2021 94% · 2022 77% · 2023 76% — 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
20% of DRUG POLICY ACTION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
72% of DRUG POLICY ACTION's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $300k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
DRUG POLICY ACTION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like DRUG POLICY ACTION
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 29 states
Part of a family of 5 related entities
- Drug Policy Alliance · exempt
- Drug Policy Action Fund for New York · exempt
- Drug Policy Action Fund for California · exempt
- Drug Policy Action Fund for New Mexico · exempt
- Drug Policy Reform Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DRUG POLICY ACTION: 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 DRUG POLICY ACTION?
- DRUG POLICY ACTION (New York) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,835,372 to it, the largest being OPEN SOCIETY ACTION FUND INC ($16,250,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DRUG POLICY ACTION have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $22,835,372 in grants to DRUG POLICY ACTION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DRUG POLICY ACTION?
- OPEN SOCIETY ACTION FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $16,250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DRUG POLICY ACTION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 9 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