Virginia · Nonprofit
PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION
PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,601,721 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($1,660,000). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.9M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $2.3M
What Public Interest Legal Foundation does
Mission
The organization exists to provide services and representation to states and election officials, to assist them with the exercise of their civil and constitutional rights, with particular focus on voting rights. Pilf provides education to citizens and election officials regarding election process laws and how they affect policy and consititutional architecture.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Provide litigation for the purpose of defending the constitutional and statutory rights of individuals and non-profit organizations from intrusion by state, federal, and local governments. Specializes in civil litigation in high-profile matters affecting the processes of the nation with particular emphasis to give aid to the cause of election integrity and litigating against lawlessness in american elections.
$893,013 spent30% of program spendingEducation and advocacy - pilf has a focused effort to raise awareness of vital issues such as non-citizens voting , lack of citizen verification and other shortfails in the current election process. Pilf has marshalled expert resources to help educate citizens, officials and decision makers about the role of election process laws and how they affect policy and constitutional architecture. Pilf assists election officials in devising election integrity policies. Pilf has responded to requests for assistance from election officials and legislatures to discuss best practices for voter roll maintenance. Pilf has a completed research projects and published reports regarding best practices for voter roll maintenance and the consequences of lack of citizenship verification in the election process. Pilf attorneys have testified before legislative bodies presenting and discussing pilf's research and reports.
$2,056,460 spent70% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,949,473.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $1.5M to $2.4M (+67%).
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.
90% of PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION’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. 2 of the last 5 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
Hans Von Spakovsky
Chairman dir
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $18k → $1.9M.
15 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 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 INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% 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
39% 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 INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 52% · 2019 50% · 2020 28% · 2021 31% · 2022 27% · 2023 21% — 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
42% of PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 22 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.1M 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 INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters 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 PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 40 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION: 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 INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION?
- PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,601,721 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($1,660,000). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $11,601,721 in grants to PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION, 43 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION?
- The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $1,660,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 Public Interest Legal →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 73 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