Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
PRO BONO INSTITUTE
PRO BONO INSTITUTE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $924,759 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($134,042). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $925k
- Net assets
- $6.5M
What Pro Bono Institute does
Mission
Explore and identify new approaches to and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and others unable to secure legal assistance to address critical legal problems.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Corporate pro bono - the corporate pro bono project is designed to substantially increase the amount of pro bono work performed by in-house counsel and to enhance the pro bono culture of in-house legal departments through technical assistance to the in-house community, targeted research and publications, online information and services, and outreach and educational programming. One of corporate pro bono's key features is its website, www.cpbo.org.
$697,871 spent$3,000 earned by the program39% of program spendingLaw firm pro bono project - the law firm project was created to support and expand the pro bono public activities of large law firms. Funded by member law firms and sponsors, the project assists law firms in developing effective pro bono programs and in integrating those programs into the practice, philosophy and culture of the firms.
$654,598 spent$231,279 earned by the program36% of program spendingConference - the Pro Bono Institute annual conference is the legal profession's premier global pro bono event and the only conference specifically tailored to the interests, needs, resources, and emerging and evolving issues faced by law firms and corporate in-house leaders involved in the direction, oversight, support, and administration of their pro bono programs. The annual conference provides an in-depth, timely, and practical orientation to leading practices and emerging issues, trends and innovations, cutting-edge developments in the fast-changing world of law firms and corporate in-house pro bono, and new and compelling pro bono opportunities in public interest law.
$336,176 spent$168,905 earned by the program19% of program spendingPublic interest project and global pro bono project
$119,688 spent7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,808,333.
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 2020 to 2021, from $6.3M to $7.8M (+23%).
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 10% · 2022 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of PRO BONO INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Eve Runyon
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $22k → $99k.
8 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 60% 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 PRO BONO INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
PRO BONO INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% 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
84% 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 PRO BONO INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 58% · 2019 48% · 2020 47% · 2021 44% · 2022 23% · 2023 25% — 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
25% of PRO BONO INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
60% of PRO BONO INSTITUTE'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 $370k that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 7 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $554k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
PRO BONO INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,337 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like PRO BONO INSTITUTE
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 PRO BONO INSTITUTE: 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 PRO BONO INSTITUTE?
- PRO BONO INSTITUTE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $924,759 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($134,042). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PRO BONO INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $924,759 in grants to PRO BONO INSTITUTE, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PRO BONO INSTITUTE?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $134,042 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PRO BONO INSTITUTE 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.
Play a game about who funds Pro Bono Institute →
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 18 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