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Georgia · Nonprofit

GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC

GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC (Georgia) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,132,091 to it, the largest being LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 ($2,100,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.7M
Funders on record
60
Grants received
$5.1M
Net assets
$1.1M
35/60 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Georgia Innocence Project Inc does

Mission

Georgia innocence project (gip) is an independent organization that works holistically to free innocent people from georgia prisons, to assist exonerees with rebuilding their lives in freedom, and mitigate the causes and consequences of wrongful conviction at a systemic level.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. In FY25, Georgia Innocence Project secured the exoneration and freedom of an innocent man who served 22 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In FY25, Georgia Innocence Project, often in collaboration with pro bono partners, actively worked on 22 representation stage cases, had 17 cases in active screening for post-conviction claims of innocence, and processed 280 requests for help. Georgia Innocence Project also advocated for fair compensation for innocent exonerees and reform of Georgia's compensation process, provided direct exoneree support to several exonerees, hosted "freedom gatherings" where exonerees in Georgia accessed peer support and strengthened community, and worked in partnership with freed and exonerated people to educate the public about the causes and consequences of wrongful conviction in Georgia.

    $845,269 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $845,269.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($378k) Expenses 100 ($213k) Net assets 100 ($194k)2018 Revenue 83 ($315k) Expenses 133 ($283k) Net assets 113 ($219k)2019 Revenue 202 ($765k) Expenses 229 ($486k) Net assets 257 ($498k)2020 Revenue 342 ($1.3M) Expenses 382 ($812k) Net assets 507 ($981k)2021 Revenue 368 ($1.4M) Expenses 534 ($1.1M) Net assets 639 ($1.2M)2022 Revenue 360 ($1.4M) Expenses 669 ($1.4M) Net assets 607 ($1.2M)2023 Revenue 330 ($1.2M) Expenses 799 ($1.7M) Net assets 382 ($740k)2024 Revenue 396 ($1.5M) Expenses 679 ($1.4M) Net assets 410 ($794k)2025 Revenue 452 ($1.7M) Expenses 673 ($1.4M) Net assets 553 ($1.1M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (452)Expenses (673)Net assets (553)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $520k to $1.1M (+111%).

$199k
$233k
$520k
$1.1M
$1.3M
$1.2M
$1.2M
$1.1M
$1.2M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 8% · 2022 5% · 2023 19% · 2024 10% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,392 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$166k
’17
$33k
’18
$279k
’19
$483k
’20
$255k
’21
−$62k
’22
−$450k
’23
$55k
’24
$276k
’25
5.0
months of
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

Alan Essig

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed7720202321261115
Joined·+0+13+1+8+5+8+1+6
No longer listed·001573162
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $30k → $540k.

13 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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

GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

41%
largest funder
69%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 79% · 2019 72% · 2020 39% · 2021 68% · 2022 64% · 2023 56% — growing more concentrated.

“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

43% of GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Georgia, across 12 states in all.

MN
NY
NJ
CT
CA
MO
DE
NC
AL
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Georgia out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $943k arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin16% · top quartile
Months of reserve5.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)21% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $600k on record.

Federal$600k
grants $600kcontracts $0
20
21
Top agencies
  • Department of Justice$600k

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 GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC

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 Georgia

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

59% of spending goes to programs.

Program 59%Management 22%Fundraising 19%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

71%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

GA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: 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.

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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 GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC?
GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC (Georgia) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,132,091 to it, the largest being LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 ($2,100,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC have?
IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $5,132,091 in grants to GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC?
LAKESHORE FOUNDATION DATED APRIL 5 2011 is the largest funder on record, with $2,100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like GEORGIA INNOCENCE PROJECT INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Georgia. 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 Georgia Innocence Project →

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 60 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