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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES

THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 183 organizations whose IRS filings report $90,337,582 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($14,986,000). 128 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$30M
Funders on record
183
Grants received
$90M
Net assets
$34M
128/183 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 84%
01What it does

What The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies does

Mission

The federalist society exists to promote the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, the separation of powers is central to our constitution, and that it is the duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Student activities: student activities are the cornerstone of the society. The society maintains a chapter at nearly every law school in the nation. Each chapter is committed to sparking discussion of critical issues through high-quality debates and lectures featuring a thorough analysis of conservative and libertarian thought. The chapters host more than 1,000 events each academic year.

    $4,265,582 spentof which $146,592 as grants$82,355 earned by the program
    15% of program spending
  2. Symposium and conferences - - the society's student symposium has been one of its keystone events for more than forty years. In addition to the student symposium, the society hosts a program of seminars, conferences, and meetings at which distinguished legal scholars engage in debate and public discussion about legal issues of national importance.

    $4,174,732 spentof which $40,281 as grants$257,185 earned by the program
    15% of program spending
  3. Practice groups and networks - - the practice groups and networks host more than 200 programs each year and connect the organization's members along areas of legal practice and interest. The practice groups and networks provide programming that is based upon the most recent and noteworthy developments in the law.

    $4,933,774 spentof which $2 as grants$25,070 earned by the program
    18% of program spending
  4. General program

    $6,436,590 spentof which $22 as grants$165,356 earned by the program
    23% of program spending
  5. Lawyers activities

    $4,001,172 spent$1,566,981 earned by the program
    14% of program spending
  6. External affairs

    $2,075,512 spent
    7% of program spending
  7. Faculty activities

    $1,944,408 spentof which $386,491 as grants$12,669 earned by the program
    7% of program spending

The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $27,831,770.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($20M) Expenses 100 ($18M) Net assets 100 ($28M)2018 Revenue 111 ($23M) Expenses 119 ($22M) Net assets 101 ($29M)2019 Revenue 114 ($23M) Expenses 127 ($23M) Net assets 103 ($29M)2020 Revenue 100 ($20M) Expenses 108 ($20M) Net assets 105 ($30M)2021 Revenue 93 ($19M) Expenses 97 ($18M) Net assets 116 ($33M)2022 Revenue 166 ($34M) Expenses 134 ($25M) Net assets 140 ($40M)2023 Revenue 105 ($21M) Expenses 144 ($26M) Net assets 129 ($37M)2024 Revenue 110 ($23M) Expenses 152 ($28M) Net assets 120 ($34M)2025 Revenue 147 ($30M) Expenses 174 ($32M) Net assets 120 ($34M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (147)Expenses (174)Net assets (120)

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 $35M to $43M (+21%).

$30M
$31M
$32M
$32M
$35M
$43M
$50M
$48M
$47M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$2.2M
’17
$982k
’18
$130k
’19
$762k
’20
$1.2M
’21
$9.4M
’22
−$4.7M
’23
−$5.2M
’24
−$1.6M
’25
6.5
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed181818181822211920
Joined·+1+0+2+1+5+0+0+1
No longer listed·10211120
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 48 funders to 87 funders, grant income rose $5.0M → $14M.

29 of 183 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 183 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

THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% 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

60% 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 FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES.

17%
largest funder
38%
top three
~14
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 16% · 2018 16% · 2019 17% · 2020 38% · 2021 23% · 2022 30% · 2023 37% — 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

54% of THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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 FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 31 states in all.

MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
KS
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $37M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

88% of spending goes to programs.

Program 88%Management 10%Fundraising 2%

Governance

13
board members
77%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

81%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 34 states

AK
ME
VT
WA
ID
MT
ND
WI
MI
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
CT
RI
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
DE
AZ
NM
DC
OK
LA
AL
TX

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES?
THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 183 organizations whose IRS filings report $90,337,582 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($14,986,000). 128 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES have?
IRS filings report 183 organizations giving $90,337,582 in grants to THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES, 128 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES?
Donors Trust Inc is the largest funder on record, with $14,986,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES 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.

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 183 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