Maryland · Nonprofit
THE HUMANE LEAGUE
THE HUMANE LEAGUE (Maryland) receives grants from 165 organizations whose IRS filings report $68,889,509 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($42,838,900). 89 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 165
- Grants received
- $69M
- Net assets
- $25M
What The Humane League does
Mission
We exist to end the abuse of animals raised for food. This mission is executed by persuading companies and institutions to adopt animal welfare policies through negotiation and pressure campaigns, and then holding them accountable to their commitments. We mobilize volunteers and support and train a global network of organizations to end animal abuse worldwide.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2025, The Humane League continued its commitment to fixing our broken food system, freeing farmed animals from cages, and ending the cruelest practices on factory farms.securing corporate commitments and driving industry-wide change thl's strategic campaigns and corporate engagement resulted in significant victories for animals this year. We secured brand new corporate commitments to end the use of cages in their supply chains that will spare 1.6 million hens around the world from the cruelty of extreme confinement. And thanks to decades of continuous effort, 46.4% of egg-laying hens in the us lived outside a cage for the first time, a historic high.through our global coalition, we secured 234 new corporate commitments for chickens around the world, with more than 60 of those commitments established in africa. Holding corporations accountable relentless campaigning pushed major brands to act. Our targeted efforts against subway resulted in the company committing to fully transition to 100% cage-free eggs in the us ahead of its original deadline, sparing nearly 340,000 hens annually. We also launched a massive pressure campaign against grocery giant ahold delhaize, sending over…
$14,619,381 spentof which $4,261,891 as grants$3,414 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $14,619,381.
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 2017 to 2018, from $8.8M to $16M (+82%).
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 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of THE HUMANE LEAGUE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (67% 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
Daniel Shannon
CEO (as of 5/25)
Board chair
Alicia Rodriguez
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 69 funders, grant income rose $3.0M → $5.5M.
35 of 165 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 HUMANE LEAGUE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 165 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 HUMANE LEAGUE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
88% 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 HUMANE LEAGUE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 94% · 2019 83% · 2020 27% · 2021 86% · 2022 37% · 2023 20% — 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
37% of THE HUMANE LEAGUE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
80% of THE HUMANE LEAGUE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $14M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Maryland, across 33 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $55M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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 HUMANE LEAGUE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE HUMANE LEAGUE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1k on record.
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $1k
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 HUMANE LEAGUE
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
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE HUMANE LEAGUE: 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 HUMANE LEAGUE?
- THE HUMANE LEAGUE (Maryland) receives grants from 165 organizations whose IRS filings report $68,889,509 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($42,838,900). 89 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE HUMANE LEAGUE have?
- IRS filings report 165 organizations giving $68,889,509 in grants to THE HUMANE LEAGUE, 89 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE HUMANE LEAGUE?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $42,838,900 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE HUMANE LEAGUE 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.
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 165 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