Maryland · Nonprofit
THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD
THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD (Maryland) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,254,443 to it, the largest being VITAL PROJECTS FUND INC ($735,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $937k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $752k
What The Assoc for the Public Defender of Maryland Ltd does
Mission
Building community and professional partnerships to advance the Maryland Office of the Public Defender's holistic representation and support for justice-involved individuals.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Violence Intervention and Prevention Program ... Description: Implemented through Children's Defense Intervention Project, the program provides trauma-informed intervention and re-entry support to youth charged with gun-possession-related offenses and represented by Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore County. Accomplishments: During 2025, the program served 49 individuals, exceeding the goal of 30 clients. A total of 29 individuals were referred for social services. VIPP contributed to positive legal outcomes, including transfers to juvenile court and case dismissals, while providing ongoing case management and connections to community-based services.
$160,887 spent$176,405 earned by the program35% of program spendingUPLIFTING YOUTH PROJECT ... Description: In collaboration with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Maryland's Office of the Public Defender, the organization works to increase access to services and improve wellness for justice-involved youth in Prince George's County through screening, assessment, planning, ongoing support, and referrals to appropriate behavioral-health treatment and community-based services. Accomplishments: In 2025, through screening, assessment, referrals, care planning, and ongoing support, the project assisted justice-involved children, many of whom were referred for behavioral-health treatment and received complementary services.
$151,587 spent$158,887 earned by the program33% of program spendingDecarceration Initiative ... Description: The Decarceration Initiative is a project to reduce mass incarceration in Maryland by providing representation to people eligible to file motions to reduce their sentences under the Juvenile Restoration Act (JuvRA) or the Second Look Act. Accomplishments: In 2025, the project continued providing representation for individuals eligible for relief under the JuvRA while also launching early implementation of Maryland's Second Look Act, which took effect in October. This work included a significant effort to identify and directly communicate with individuals newly eligible under the Second Look statute,alongside building and training the legal and support resources needed to provide comprehensive representation in the years ahead.
$97,290 spent$550,000 earned by the program21% of program spendingAdditional projects conducted in 2025 are Better Together, Career Development Fund, Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative and Pauli Murray Leadership Diversity Initiative.
$51,840 spent$51,802 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $461,604.
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 2022 to 2023, from $236k to $729k (+208%).
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: 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% 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
Johanna Leshner
executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $300 → $393k.
3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD’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
THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
27% 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 THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 60% · 2021 80% · 2022 100% · 2023 60% — 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
14% of THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $96k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD: 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 THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD?
- THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD (Maryland) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,254,443 to it, the largest being VITAL PROJECTS FUND INC ($735,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $1,254,443 in grants to THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD?
- VITAL PROJECTS FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $735,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE ASSOC FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MARYLAND LTD find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Assoc for the Public Defender of Maryland Ltd →
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 11 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