California · Nonprofit
MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND
MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND (California) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $59,737,311 to it, the largest being NEO Philanthropy Inc ($11,869,084). 90 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.3M
- Funders on record
- 150
- Grants received
- $60M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Maldef - Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund does
Mission
Founded in 1968, maldef is the nation's leading latino civil rights legal organization, promoting social change through advocacy, community education and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrants rights and political access.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Litigation: maldef advances the civil rights of latinos nationwide by pursuing litigation in the areas of education, employment and equal opportunity, immigrants rights and political access.(please see schedule o "litigation docket" for details on our litigation activity for 2024-2025)
$3,117,580 spent$938,321 earned by the program41% of program spendingPublic policy: maldef advances the civil rights of latinos nationwide through public policy advocacy and analysis in the areas of education, employment and equal opportunity, immigrants rights and political access. (please see schedule o "public policy supplement" for more detail on our public policy activity for 2024-2025)
$1,875,110 spent25% of program spendingCommunity education and leadership development: maldef advances the civil rights of latinos nationwide through community education programs including a parent school partnership (psp) program, youth leadership development program (ylp), and scholarship programs. (please see schedule o "celd - community education and leadership development" for details on our programs for 2024-2025)
$836,972 spentof which $48,500 as grants11% of program spendingFiscal sponsorships
$1,727,180 spentof which $44,962 as grants$1,786,589 earned by the program23% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,556,842.
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 2019 to 2020, from $18M to $23M (+32%).
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: 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (97% 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.
Board chair
Norma Cantu
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 46 funders to 49 funders, grant income rose $4.4M → $6.4M.
31 of 150 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 150 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
MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
45% 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 MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 23% · 2019 36% · 2020 32% · 2021 40% · 2022 16% · 2023 16% — 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
40% of MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND's funding base is broadening — from 46 funders to 49 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Maldef Property Management Corp · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND: 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 MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND?
- MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND (California) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $59,737,311 to it, the largest being NEO Philanthropy Inc ($11,869,084). 90 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND have?
- IRS filings report 150 organizations giving $59,737,311 in grants to MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, 90 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND?
- NEO Philanthropy Inc is the largest funder on record, with $11,869,084 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 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.
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 150 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