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Florida · Nonprofit

Human Rights Defense Center Inc

Human Rights Defense Center Inc (Florida) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,625,652 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($475,950). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$2.8M
Funders on record
22
Grants received
$1.6M
Net assets
$4.3M
9/22 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 21%
01What it does

What Human Rights Defense Center Inc does

Mission

Primary exempt purpose: the human rights defense center (hrdc) is a nonprofit charitable corporation headquartered in florida that advocates in furtherance of the human rights of people held in state and federal prisons, local jails, immigration defense centers, civil commitment facilities, bureau of indian affairs jails, juvenile facilities, and military prisons. Hrdcs advocacy efforts include publishing two monthly publications, prison legal news (pln), which covers national and international news and litigation concerning prisons and jails, as well as criminal legal news (cln), which is focused on criminal law and procedure and policing issues. Hdrc also publishes and distributes selfhelp reference books for prisoners and engages in state and federal court litigation on prisoner rights issues, including wrongful death, public records, class actions, and section 1983 civil rights litigation concerning the first amendment rights of prisoners and their correspondents.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Human rights defense center is a nonprofit corporation, organized to advocate on behalf of the human rights of those detained by the united states government and its agents. It publishes a magazine, prison legal news, provides selfhelp material and nonfiction reference books aimed at prisoners, public education, testimony before legislative and regulatory about the detention of citizens and residents, litigates on behalf of prisoners, does public speaking engagements, media campaigns, and maintain websites as the premiere online sources of detention facilities news. Criminal legal news (cln) focuses on criminal law and procedure and policing issues.

    $1,960,017 spent$1,493,881 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,960,017.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($2.0M) Expenses 100 ($1.6M) Net assets 100 ($599k)2021 Revenue 114 ($2.2M) Expenses 110 ($1.7M) Net assets 188 ($1.1M)2022 Revenue 109 ($2.1M) Expenses 114 ($1.8M) Net assets 248 ($1.5M)2023 Revenue 50 ($991k) Expenses 118 ($1.8M) Net assets 134 ($801k)2024 Revenue 238 ($4.7M) Expenses 122 ($1.9M) Net assets 604 ($3.6M)2025 Revenue 144 ($2.8M) Expenses 137 ($2.1M) Net assets 722 ($4.3M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (144)Expenses (137)Net assets (722)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 2023 to 2024, from $849k to $3.6M (+330%).

$781k
$1.3M
$1.5M
$849k
$3.6M
$4.4M
202020212022202320242025
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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 34% · 2022 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

46% of Human Rights Defense Center Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (72% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 636 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$402k
’20
$528k
’21
$360k
’22
−$852k
’23
$2.8M
’24
$694k
’25
24
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.

Chief executive

Paul Wright

Executive director

Board chair

Christopher Zoukis

Board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed1186456
Joined·+1+0+3+1+1
No longer listed·42500
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $20k → $145k.

9 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 Human Rights Defense Center Inc’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

Human Rights Defense Center Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

54% 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 Human Rights Defense Center Inc.

29%
largest funder
66%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 70% · 2019 68% · 2020 56% · 2021 57% · 2022 45% · 2023 37% — 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

37% of Human Rights Defense Center Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

Human Rights Defense Center Inc draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Florida, across 9 states in all.

MN
IL
NY
MA
PA
CA
CO
GA
TX

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

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Florida out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $811k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Human Rights Defense Center Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 369 unclassified nonprofits its size.

Operating margin24% · top quartile
Months of reserve24.1mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)8% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 369 unclassified nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding Human Rights Defense Center Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1k on record.

State$1k
Top programs
  • REFUNDS - GENERAL $1k

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 Human Rights Defense Center 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 Florida

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

92% of spending goes to programs.

Program 92%Management 8%Fundraising 0%

Governance

4
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

96%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Human Rights Defense Center 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Human Rights Defense Center Inc?
Human Rights Defense Center Inc (Florida) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,625,652 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($475,950). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Human Rights Defense Center Inc have?
IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $1,625,652 in grants to Human Rights Defense Center Inc, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Human Rights Defense Center Inc?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $475,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Human Rights Defense Center Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 Human Rights Defense Center →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 22 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