California · Nonprofit
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley (California) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,523,211 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($3,400,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Law Foundation of Silicon Valley does
Mission
The Law Foundation uses the law as a tool for change. The Law Foundation addresses problems linked to social injustices like poverty, discrimination, child abuse, and neglect. Every day, our attorneys, social workers, and advocates craft innovative solutions to the life-changing legal issues facing low-income people and communities of color in Silicon Valley. We focus on three areas: children & youth, housing, and health (including mental health) throughout Silicon Valley, predominantly in Santa Clara County. Most of our clients are low-income and our legal services are free of charge.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Children and Youth Program, Legal Advocates for Children and Youth, empowers clients to lead healthy and productive lives by advancing their legal interests. We listen to, advise, and advocate for children and youth to ensure their voices are heard and their rights are protected. We provide free legal services on a wide range of legal issues impacting children and youth, including juvenile dependency, family law, probate guardianship, education matters, immigration, domestic violence, and numerous other practice areas.
$4,720,470 spent49% of program spendingThe Housing Program works to prevent the displacement of low-income and communities of color through direct legal services, policy advocacy, and impact litigation. We provide free legal advice and representation on housing-related matters including eviction defense, housing discrimination, tenant protections, affordable housing issues and more.
$2,447,506 spent25% of program spendingThe Health Program promotes access to and quality of health and behavioral health care services and delivery, addressing health disparities among low-income and underserved populations. We provide free legal services in the areas of mental health patients' rights, and related disability rights and health access advocacy.
$2,100,512 spent22% of program spendingThe Pro Bono Program offers a wide array of pro bono opportunities to attorneys and other legal staff working in law firms, corporate legal departments, and solo practices.
$457,865 spent$125,943 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,726,353.
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 2022 to 2023, from $12M to $17M (+41%).
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: 2017 52% · 2018 53% · 2019 57% · 2020 64% · 2021 57% · 2022 68% · 2023 68% · 2024 59% · 2025 69%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of Law Foundation of Silicon Valley’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (95% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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
Alison Brunner
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $4.9M.
19 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 Law Foundation of Silicon Valley’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
77% 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 Law Foundation of Silicon Valley.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 42% · 2019 26% · 2020 22% · 2021 17% · 2022 22% · 2023 69% — 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
49% of Law Foundation of Silicon Valley's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
64% of Law Foundation of Silicon Valley'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 $5.2M that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.3M 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
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 152 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 152 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 Law Foundation of Silicon Valley: 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 Law Foundation of Silicon Valley?
- Law Foundation of Silicon Valley (California) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,523,211 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($3,400,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Law Foundation of Silicon Valley have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $14,523,211 in grants to Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Law Foundation of Silicon Valley?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $3,400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Law Foundation of Silicon Valley find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Law Foundation of Silicon Valley →
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 53 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