New York · Nonprofit
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $78,589,038 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($28,276,825). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $39M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $79M
- Net assets
- $87M
What Human Rights Foundation Inc does
Mission
The foundation's purpose is to unite people regardless of their political, cultural, and ideological orientations in the common cause of defending human rights and promoting liberal democracy globally. The mission is to ensure that freedom is both promoted and protected.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Global advocacy - hrf defends human rights through global advocacy, executing innovative campaigns and deploying international legal mechanisms to influence institutions and policymakers.in 2024, hrf's impact litigation program filed eleven complaints, two urgent appeals, and one joint petition before the un, and received two favorable decisions from the un working group on arbitrary detention. For the 2024 sessions of the un human rights council, hrf submitted 10 universal periodic reviews. Hrf's tyranny tracker (formerly, the political regime project) continued to track authoritarianism across the world, finishing research reports for 96 countries. The tyranny tracker classifies countries as democratic, hybrid authoritarian, or fully authoritarian using a unique methodology developed by hrf.hrf's global advocacy continued to address regional issues and international developments. In 2024, the ukraine solidarity fund and belarus solidarity fund reached fundraising amounts of $2.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively, in grants for civil society organizations. In the wake of widespread protests responding to dictator nicols maduro proclaiming a fraudulent victory in 2024, the…
$26,858,411 spentof which $19,277,041 as grants$401,009 earned by the program75% of program spendingCommunity outreach - since its founding, hrf has cultivated a global community of human rights defenders, connecting activists, dissidents, civil society organizations, and industry leaders who share in their dedication to the protection of democracy.in 2024, in the form of microgrants, hrf provided funding to activists and organizations working on the frontlines of democratic change in 12 countries around the world. Through targeted skills-development programs, hrf augmented the abilities of at-risk advocates, artists, and students who are working to defend democracy in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes. The annual freedom fellowship provided a cohort of nine human rights advocates with the unique opportunity to increase the impact of their work through hands-on training and mentorship sessions, including a week-long working retreat in costa rica. In august 2024, hrf also held its first-ever resilience retreat in costa rica, equipping 20 activists from 12 countries with the resources and practices necessary to become resilience movement leaders. In december, hrf and 14 activists from sub-saharan africa assembled in ghana for the third edition of the george ayittey…
$7,540,612 spentof which $786,441 as grants$112,587 earned by the program21% of program spendingAudience education - through creative campaigns, impactful storytelling, and strategic media coverage, hrf continued to educate global audiences on the threat of authoritarianism in 2024. Hrf highlighted the intersection of human rights with various sectors, amplifying the struggle for freedom across industries and audiences.hrf augmented its media presence across various platforms in 2024, garnering 22,000 media mentions, 82 billion global media impressions, and 24 million social media impressions. Hrf's work was featured in top international media outlets including the wall street journal, the new york times, reason, foreign policy, npr, the washington times, the economist, and others.hrf's public-facing programs continued to expose broad audiences to human rights issues. Two college freedom forum events in 2024 connected students at universidad francisco marroqun (in guatemala) and stanford university with renowned activists working to promote democracy and human rights. Hrf representatives spoke at conferences such as sxsw, rightscon, and the bitcoin conference. With the relaunch of the dissidents & dictators podcast, hrf reached 91,000 listens by 2,500 listeners with stories…
$1,059,939 spentof which $3,820 as grants3% of program spendingOther programs
$530,205 spentof which $50,000 as grants1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $35,989,167.
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 2023 to 2024, from $58M to $97M (+66%).
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 0% · 2022 1% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Thor Halvorssen
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Garry Kasparov
Chairman thru may 2024
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $319k → $9.7M.
20 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 88% 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 FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 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
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
89% 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 FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 84% · 2019 63% · 2020 55% · 2021 57% · 2022 43% · 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
36% of HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
88% of HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC'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 $9.7M that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 19 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $69M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than half of the 152 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 152 civil rights nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION 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.
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 FOUNDATION INC?
- HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $78,589,038 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($28,276,825). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $78,589,038 in grants to HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $28,276,825 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION INC 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 73 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