New York · Nonprofit
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE (New York) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,791,669 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($10,903,683). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 128
- Grants received
- $46M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Drug Policy Alliance does
Mission
Dpa improves people's lives by expanding health and addiction services while reducing arrests and incarceration.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Treating drug use as a health issuecriminalization is the foundation of the drug war, with vast investments in punishment and scant support for services. As a result, drug possession is one of the most arrested offenses in the united states while overdose is the leading cause of accidental death. Dpa seeks to expand access to health and harm reduction services, and to reduce criminal penalties for drugs. Recent accomplishments include: - securing the launch or expansion of lifesaving harm reduction programs, including fentanyl detecting tools and sterile syringe services- supporting state and local policies to expand overdose prevention programs- defending and expanding funding for addiction services- providing strategic support and technical assistance to partner organizations in multiple states
$3,225,390 spentof which $598,250 as grants33% of program spendingAdvancing justice through cannabis regulation the movement for cannabis legalization has grown exponentially, but the communities that have suffered the most under decades of prohibition are not benefiting from the legal industry at the scale needed to repair the harm. Dpa supports an approach to legalization that centers community reinvestment and reduces the negative impacts of the commercial market. Recent accomplishments include: - influencing the debate on descheduling cannabis on the federal list of controlled substances and ending prohibition more broadly- defending justice provisions of state laws - strengthening education resources for youth and parents- advancing consumer safety measures
$3,676,836 spent37% of program spendingPromoting family safety and economic security the drug war impacts many aspects of our lives beyond the criminal legal system. Surveillance, nonconsensual drug testing, mandatory reporting, and zero tolerance separates families, makes people homeless, and fuels intergenerational poverty. Dpa seeks to eliminate these civil punishments that cause so much harm and have no grounding in evidence. Recent accomplishments include:- promoting reforms to ensure people with certain drug convictions can access nutrition benefits and protections under the fair housing act- educating the field and the public about the need to stop non-consensual drug testing of people in the healthcare system
$2,803,618 spent28% of program spendingOther program services include conference:2025 international drug policy reform conference as part of our movement-build role, dpa organizes and hosts the international drug policy reform conference every other year. In 2025, we brought together more than 1,850 academics, experts, and advocates for three days of learning, strategizing, and networking.
$204,414 spent$135,596 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,910,258.
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 2020 to 2021, from $13M to $20M (+54%).
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 2% · 2022 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (7% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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 FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 36 funders to 46 funders, grant income fell $7.8M → $5.2M.
27 of 128 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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: $35M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Drug Policy Action). These are real filings, and they are not money DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE raised.
From the IRS filings of DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 128 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
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
42% 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 ALLIANCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 59% · 2019 45% · 2020 21% · 2021 56% · 2022 21% · 2023 28% — 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
38% of DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
74% of DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE'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. $18M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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 ALLIANCE is better cushioned than half of the 2,969 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,969 health nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $375 on record.
- FEDERAL$375
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 DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
49%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 30 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Drug Policy Action · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: 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 ALLIANCE?
- DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE (New York) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,791,669 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($10,903,683). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE have?
- IRS filings report 128 organizations giving $45,791,669 in grants to DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE, 69 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $10,903,683 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE 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 128 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