Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
JUDICIAL WATCH INC
JUDICIAL WATCH INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 1219 organizations whose IRS filings report $63,031,937 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($13,646,612). 856 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $128M
- Funders on record
- 1,219
- Grants received
- $63M
- Net assets
- $490M
What Judicial Watch Inc does
Mission
To promote integrity, transparency and accountability in government and fidelity to the rule of law through public advocacy, litigation and monitoring and investigating federal, state and local government entities and officials, among other activities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Public education - judicial watch fulfills its educational mission by disseminating information about its public advocacy, litigation, monitoring and investigations, and other activities, to the public through its website, monthly newsletter, and email updates and blogs, as well as regular mailings, periodic special reports and other public outreach efforts.
$26,790,794 spentof which $87,900 as grants73% of program spendingLegal - judicial watch prosecutes numerous lawsuits, typically on its own behalf but also on behalf of like-minded individuals or entities, to promote integrity, transparency and accountability in government and fidelity to the rule of law. Judicial watch has prosecuted or defended lawsuits in furtherance of its public interest mission and obtained many noteworthy successes.
$7,248,434 spent$56,267 earned by the program20% of program spendingInvestigations/research - judicial watch monitors and investigates the actions of federal, state and local government entities and public officials, typically using open records laws such as the freedom of information act. Judicial watch has served open records requests and secured the release of previously undisclosed government records into the public domain. Judicial watch also maintains databases of the records it obtains and makes these records available to the public.
$2,890,810 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $36,930,038.
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 $413M to $503M (+22%).
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.
77% of JUDICIAL WATCH INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (0% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 250 funders to 524 funders, grant income rose $2.2M → $9.4M.
97 of 1219 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 JUDICIAL WATCH INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 1219 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
JUDICIAL WATCH INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
62% 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 JUDICIAL WATCH INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 25% · 2019 23% · 2020 16% · 2021 24% · 2022 21% · 2023 21% — 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
51% of JUDICIAL WATCH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
61% of JUDICIAL WATCH 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 $25M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 51 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $38M arriving through sponsors registered in 36 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
JUDICIAL WATCH INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 66 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 66 public benefit nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Government funding JUDICIAL WATCH INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $13 on record.
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $13
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 JUDICIAL WATCH 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for JUDICIAL WATCH 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 JUDICIAL WATCH INC?
- JUDICIAL WATCH INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 1219 organizations whose IRS filings report $63,031,937 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($13,646,612). 856 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does JUDICIAL WATCH INC have?
- IRS filings report 1219 organizations giving $63,031,937 in grants to JUDICIAL WATCH INC, 856 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of JUDICIAL WATCH INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $13,646,612 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like JUDICIAL WATCH INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 1219 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