Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,072,118 to it, the largest being SKYLINE FOUNDATION ($2,080,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $4.1M
- Net assets
- $4.5M
What Student Press Law Center does
Mission
Advocates for student first amendment rights, for freedom of online speech, and for open government on campus and in their communities. The splc provides information, training and legal assistance at no charge to student journalists and the educators who work with them.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Student Press Law Center (splc) is the nation's only legal assistance agency devoted exclusively to educating high school and college journalists about the rights and responsibilities embodied in the first amendment, and supporting the student news media in their struggle to cover important issues free from censorship. In addition, splc operates a formal attorney referral network of more than 200 lawyers across the country who are available to provide free legal representation to local students when necessary. Approximately 2,000 student journalists, teachers and others from around the country contact the splc for assistance and support annually.
$709,482 spentof which $6,000 as grants$2,105 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $709,482.
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 2021 to 2022, from $5.1M to $3.9M (−24%).
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: 2020 25% · 2021 8% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Gary Green
Executive director
Board chair
Steven Holmes Vice Chair
As of july, then chair as of dec.
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $120k → $318k.
10 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 74% · 2019 52% · 2020 46% · 2021 49% · 2022 53% · 2023 94% — 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
20% of STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER draws 81% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 14 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $592k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER 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 STUDENT PRESS 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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
40%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STUDENT PRESS 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 STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER?
- STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,072,118 to it, the largest being SKYLINE FOUNDATION ($2,080,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $4,072,118 in grants to STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER?
- SKYLINE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,080,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STUDENT PRESS 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.
Play a game about who funds Student Press Law Center →
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 32 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