California · Nonprofit
PUBLIC COUNSEL
PUBLIC COUNSEL (California) receives grants from 153 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,127,674 to it, the largest being Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County ($5,009,845). 98 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $24M
- Funders on record
- 153
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $30M
What Public Counsel does
Mission
Public Counsel is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to advancing civil rights and racial and economic justice, as well as to amplifying the power of our clients through comprehensive legal advocacy. (see sch o for continuation)founded on and strengthened by a pro bono legal service model, our staff and volunteers seek justice through direct legal services, promote healthy and resilient communities through education and outreach, and support community-led efforts to transform unjust systems through litigation and policy advocacy in and beyond los angeles.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The immigrants' rights team provides representation to individuals from over 30 countries before the united states department of homeland security, the los angeles immigration court, the board of immigration appeals, and the federal courts. The team assists numerous vulnerable immigrant groups, including victims of persecution seeking asylum in the united states; domestic violence, violent crime and trafficking victims seeking relief under the violence against women act and the victims of trafficking and violence protection act; and immigrant children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected and cannot safely return to their countries of origin. (the revenue reported here is the amount of exempt function revenue from form 990, part viii, column (b) allocated to this program.)
$3,928,132 spentof which $2,500 as grants$28,698 earned by the program21% of program spendingThe child, youth & family advocacy team uses a multi-disciplinary approach to legal advocacy with the trauma-informed and resiliency-focused tools of social workers supporting the work of legal advocates to remove legal barriers for children, youth, families, and communities of color most impacted by systemic racism and economic injustice. The team fights for the dignity of our clients through direct legal services, community-led local policy work, impact litigation, and statewide legislative transformation. (the revenue reported here is the amount of exempt function revenue from form 990, part viii, column (b) allocated to this program.)
$3,149,491 spent$43,948 earned by the program17% of program spendingThe consumer rights & economic justice team advances economic justice by providing legal counsel for, and advocacy on behalf of, low-income individuals and their families, addressing inequalities in bargaining power, opposing those who take advantage of the vulnerable, and holding wrongdoers accountable. (the revenue reported here is the amount of exempt function revenue from form 990, part viii, column (b) allocated to this program.)
$2,985,654 spentof which $116,488 as grants$35,283 earned by the program16% of program spendingThe community development team builds strong foundations for healthy, vibrant, and economically stable communities through its legal and capacity building services for small businesses, low-income entrepreneurs, and nonprofits serving low-income populations and addressing issues of poverty in the los angeles area, including healthcare clinics and child care providers. Through its housing opportunities, preservation and enforcement unit, the team supports the development and preservation of affordable housing. (the revenue reported here is the amount of exempt function revenue from form 990, part viii, column (b) allocated to this program.)the homelessness prevention team works with homeless youth, adults, and families to break the cycle of homelessness by helping them access shelter, clothing, food, and public benefits to which they are legally entitled. The team also assists homeless and at-risk individuals to address the legal barriers they face in gaining employment, securing and preserving housing, and achieving stability and self-sufficiency. (the revenue reported here is the amount of exempt function revenue from form 990, part viii, column (b) allocated to this program.)the…
$8,575,774 spentof which $1,046,281 as grants$702,362 earned by the program46% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $18,639,051.
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 $24M to $31M (+28%).
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 14% · 2018 18% · 2019 19% · 2020 17% · 2021 23% · 2022 15% · 2023 19% · 2024 17% · 2025 43%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of PUBLIC COUNSEL’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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
Kathryn A Eidmann
President & CEO
Board chair
Stacy D Phillips
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 42 funders to 59 funders, grant income rose $2.8M → $6.9M.
27 of 153 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 PUBLIC COUNSEL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 153 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
PUBLIC COUNSEL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
59% 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 PUBLIC COUNSEL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 30% · 2019 19% · 2020 15% · 2021 20% · 2022 20% · 2023 43% — 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
50% of PUBLIC COUNSEL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
86% of PUBLIC COUNSEL's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M 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
PUBLIC COUNSEL is better cushioned than half of the 165 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 165 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding PUBLIC COUNSEL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $950k on record.
- Department of Justice$950k
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 PUBLIC COUNSEL
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 PUBLIC COUNSEL: 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 PUBLIC COUNSEL?
- PUBLIC COUNSEL (California) receives grants from 153 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,127,674 to it, the largest being Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County ($5,009,845). 98 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC COUNSEL have?
- IRS filings report 153 organizations giving $41,127,674 in grants to PUBLIC COUNSEL, 98 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC COUNSEL?
- Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County is the largest funder on record, with $5,009,845 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC COUNSEL 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 153 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