Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER
NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 269 organizations whose IRS filings report $132,023,882 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($21,213,152). 133 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $24M
- Funders on record
- 269
- Grants received
- $132M
- Net assets
- $87M
What National Women's Law Center does
Mission
To advance and protect women's legal rights. The center focuses on major policy areas of importance to women and their families including education, employment, family economic security, and health, with special attention given to the concerns of low-income women.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education & workplace justice: brought litigation on behalf of clients challenging the administration's efforts to end federal funding for programs serving domestic violence and sexual assault survivors and for programs helping women enter the skilled trades, as well as pay discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and discrimination against women in hiring. Launched narrative and policy campaign with coalition partners to protect against attacks on gender justice at work. Defended the rights of transgender students and trans inclusive policies. Advocated on behalf of the rights of student survivors of sexual assault. Provided analysis and public education on the gender wage gap. Documented the impacts of book bans and attacks on public education through the voices and stories of teachers. Educated the public on the impact of staff cuts at the department of education on students experiencing harassment and discrimination.- through the time's up legal defense fund, supported individuals challenging workplace harassment in the courts and through public storytelling; connected individuals seeking assistance with sex discrimination complaints to attorneys in the legal network for…
$8,219,642 spentof which $457,020 as grants$16,212 earned by the program27% of program spendingReproductive rights and health: protected reproductive rights in the courts. Educated the public and policymakers on the impacts of threatened cuts to medicaid and the affordable care act for women's health. Shined a spotlight on black women's health issues through research and educational materials. Published reports showing how arguments used in the fight against abortion are being used to attack health care for transgender people and access to birth control. Created resources connecting abortion access and economic justice and highlighting how reproductive rights are workers' rights.- through the abortion access legal defense fund to help pay legal expenses for individuals and entities facing proceedings because they sought abortion, provided abortion, or helped someone obtain an abortion of information about abortion care.
$8,207,636 spentof which $642,411 as grants$12,684 earned by the program27% of program spendingChild care and income security: raised awareness about the impact of the expiration of pandemic-era child care investments on children, families, and child care. Produced reports describing state child care policies and convened state child care advocates and administrators. Highlighted the import role of immigrants within care workforce. Educated the public about the impact of staff cuts, agency office closures, policy changes, and federal funding freezes on child care and head start programs. Provided analysis of tax policy changes and impacts of federal programs on the economic security, health and well-being of women, lgbtq+ people, and families. Documented ways in which women and children continued to struggle financially even in the midst of a robust economic recovery. Supported the leadership development of women committed to sharing their personal stories to help shape economic justice and child care policies that reflect the lived experience of families and communities; helped build coalitions and advocacy in states.
$7,991,386 spentof which $1,153,055 as grants$72,800 earned by the program26% of program spendingGender justice strategy and policy - provided research and policy resources to state lawmakers and advocates committed to gender justice and facilitated cross-state peer learning and collaboration through our state gender policy collective.- analyzed what project 2025 proposals would mean for women, lgbtq+ people, and families; tracked and translated the impacts of these policies as they were implemented in the first months of the new administration.- released the state playbook for gender justice, setting out seven cross-cutting policy agendas and 12 policy briefs laying out a framework for state-level gender justice policies; published state fact sheets capturing key data for measuring gender equity.- amplified examples of state strategies and successful engagement in response to federal overreach and abuses in federal attacks to state action: how state legislators are fighting back.
$6,329,777 spentof which $332,471 as grants$96,137 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $30,748,441.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $67M to $101M (+50%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Fatima Goss Graves
President and CEO
Board chair
Tonya Robinson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 96 funders, grant income rose $8.2M → $14M.
34 of 269 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $8.6M from 16 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER raised.
From the IRS filings of NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 269 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
NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% 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
36% 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 NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 13% · 2019 24% · 2020 14% · 2021 56% · 2022 18% · 2023 18% — 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
41% of NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 28 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $34M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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.
Government funding NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $244 on record.
- NJ$164
- FL$80
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 NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 37 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- National Women's Law Center Fund LLC · disregarded
- Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER: 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 NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER?
- NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 269 organizations whose IRS filings report $132,023,882 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($21,213,152). 133 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 269 organizations giving $132,023,882 in grants to NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER, 133 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $21,213,152 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 269 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