Texas · Nonprofit
Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates
Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $449,115 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($243,250). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $449k
- Net assets
- $3.1M
What Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates does
Mission
To preserve, promote, and improve the American civil justice system and the Seventh Amendment right to civil jury trials for future generations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Professional Education: The next generation of lawyers must be ambassadors for the profession, the Constitution, and ethics. The ABOTA Foundation offers professional education programs to enhance the advocacy skills of trial lawyers throughout the United States, promote civility among ABOTA members and their colleagues, and train lawyers to meet the highest standards of professionalism and advocacy in the practice of law.
$509,486 spentof which $172,435 as grants$62,926 earned by the program60% of program spendingCivics Education: We believe teachers are the primary guardians of democracy. Their knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm provide students with the tools to understand the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The ABOTA Foundation offers resources and programs for teachers and students to understand better the Constitution, the judicial system, and civic engagement.
$332,699 spent40% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $842,185.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.3M to $3.2M (−24%).
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: 2020 6% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Chief executive
Brian Tyson
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $87k.
6 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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: $2.4M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Board of Trial Advocates). These are real filings, and they are not money Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates raised.
From the IRS filings of Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates’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
Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 61% · 2021 95% · 2022 61% · 2023 64% — 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.
Where its funders are
99% of Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates'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 $3k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $447k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates's revenue grew 49% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 976 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- American Board of Trial Advocates - National · exempt
- American Board of Trial Advocates - Chapters · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates: 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 Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates?
- Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $449,115 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($243,250). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $449,115 in grants to Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $243,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Foundation of the American Board of Trial Advocates find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 7 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