Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER
THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,863,017 to it, the largest being THE FREEDOM FUND ($2,831,006). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What The Human Trafficking Legal Center does
Mission
The Human Trafficking Legal Center fights to shift the balance of power from traffickers to survivors. We ensure survivors have access to justice and demand accountability from traffickers, governments and corporations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public education and outreach: in 2025, htlc continued its work on strategic litigation and trade remedies to combat forced labor in supply chains. Htlc continued to lead the coalition against forced labour in trade, an international coalition of 18 member organizations in 8 countries and the european union jointly advocating for the adoption of import bans as a tool to combat forced labor. Htlc continued to chair the tariff act advocates group, a coalition of u.s. Organizations pressing for enforcement of section 307 of the u.s. Tariff act. Htlc published a report on civil trafficking cases filed in 2024, using civil litigation to combat human trafficking: 2024 data update. The report identified key litigation trends and tracked civil case data. Htlc continued to fight for mandatory restitution for trafficking survivors, pressing federal courts to order - and collect - mandatory compensation in federal criminal cases. Htlc also collaborated closely with trafficking survivor-leaders, including the harriet tubman fellows, to bring trafficking survivors' voices into high-level policy discussions.
$600,543 spentof which $79,126 as grants$325 earned by the program62% of program spendingCase management and referral to pro bono attorneys: in 2025, htlc referred 36 matters to pro bono partners. Pro bono referrals included criminal victim-witness matters, civil cases, tax cases, immigration cases, and legal support for organizations providing services to survivors. These pro bono referrals connected clients with highly-skilled pro bono advocates, leveraging millions of dollars in free legal services for trafficking victims who otherwise would not have had legal representation. In addition to these referrals, htlc continued to grow its in-house representation for trafficking survivors in immigration and criminal victim-witness cases, providing pro bono legal services for more than 30 trafficking survivors and their family members in 2025. Htlc also held a clinic for trafficking survivors seeking compensation under the backpage remission program, connecting trafficking survivors with pro bono counsel to file compensation petitions.the organization received $1,551,315 in donated services in 2025. Pro bono legal work for the organization constituted the vast majority of this amount. Pro bono lawyers drafted amicus briefs, conducted legal research, and co-authored…
$215,558 spent22% of program spendingDatabase management: htlc maintains a comprehensive database of every federal civil trafficking case filed under the trafficking victims protection reauthorization act, 18 usc 1595. The organization uses the database to provide technical assistance to pro bono attorneys handling trafficking cases in the federal courts. The database is available to pro bono counsel for free. The center also uses the database to conduct in depth research on trends in human trafficking civil litigation, publishing analytical reports on civil cases annually. The database currently houses more than 1,770 cases.
$67,930 spent7% of program spendingTechnical assistance to pro bono attorneys: htlc provided extensive technical assistance and mentoring to attorneys handling trafficking cases pro bono in 2025. In addition to a general resource library, htlc provided pro bono counsel access to the organization's comprehensive database of every civil trafficking case filed under the trafficking victims protection act. As of december 2025, the database included 1585 civil cases (604 labor trafficking, 937 sex trafficking, 44 both sex and labor trafficking). Htlc made its comprehensive civil case database available to more than 400 pro bono attorneys and advocates nationwide. The organization held monthly civil litigation calls to share case updates and build a community of anti-trafficking civil litigators.in 2025, htlc's attorneys provided approximately 950 hours of expert technical assistance to victims' rights attorneys, pro bono lawyers, civil litigators, and immigration practitioners. Pro bono counsel, with technical support from htlc attorneys, won significant damages and criminal restitution for trafficking survivors.
$49,858 spent5% of program spendingTraining of pro bono attorneys: since its inception, htlc has trained more than 5,600 pro bono attorneys at law firms and non-governmental organizations across the united states. Htlc provides these training sessions free of charge. The curriculum includes training for pro bono attorneys on criminal restitution for trafficking victims, remission for trafficking victims, civil litigation on behalf of trafficking victims, strategic litigation, trade remedies, and immigration relief for victims. Htlc has reached thousands more attorneys through online training sessions, national webinars, and national conferences. In addition to training provided to pro bono teams, the organization's attorneys frequently guest lecture at law schools, providing instruction to law students on strategic litigation to combat forced labor, trade remedies, and immigration relief for trafficking survivors.
$20,118 spent2% of program spendingAdvocacy: in 2025, htlc advocated for protections for trafficking survivors, as well as access to justice. The organization advocated for uscis to approve t visas, a form of immigration relief reserved for trafficking survivors. Htlc led an advocacy campaign urging the federal government to approve 5,000 t visas, the statutory annual cap for t visas. Htlc conducted appellate advocacy for trafficking survivors, filing an amicus brief in the d.c. Circuit court of appeals on behalf of workers held in forced labor. The organization advocated for an end to forced labor in global supply chains, leading the coalition against forced labour in trade and the tariff act advocates group. These coalitions pressed for robust enforcement of import bans to block goods tainted by forced labor from entering markets around the globe. Htlc worked with partner organizations to file petitions and advocate for enforcement under section 307 of the tariff act. Htlc also led efforts to mark the 25th anniversary of the trafficking victims protection act and the palermo protocol, holding one advocacy event at oxford university and providing leadership for a conference in washington, d.c.trafficking survivor…
$9,354 spent1% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $963,361.
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 $1.4M to $1.7M (+27%).
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: 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL 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. 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.
Board chair
Lorelie Masters
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 8 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $379k → $1.6M.
10 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER’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 HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
80% 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 HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 43% · 2019 47% · 2020 44% · 2021 29% · 2022 72% · 2023 54% — 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 THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER'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
THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $433 on record.
- Travel-Inst-Other Trans-Nonemp$404
- Travel-Inst-Meals-Nonemp$29
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 THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL 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
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 15 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL 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 THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER?
- THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,863,017 to it, the largest being THE FREEDOM FUND ($2,831,006). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $5,863,017 in grants to THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER?
- THE FREEDOM FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,831,006 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL 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 Human Trafficking Legal Center →
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 25 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