Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER
THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,558,247 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($1,025,150). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $6.6M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What The Public Interest Law Center does
Mission
The Public Interest Law Center uses high-impact legal strategies to advance the civil, social, and economic rights of communities in the Philadelphia region facing discrimination, inequality, and poverty. We use litigation, community education, advocacy, and organizing to secure their access to fundamental resources and services.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Law Center's activities in the areas of Public Education, Health Care, Public Health & Environmental Justice, Housing, Employment, and Voters' Rights are included in the Report of Accomplishments (attachment to Schedule O). . Staff participation in conferences, speaking engagements and traing sessions are also included, as is information on staff awards and recognition. .
$1,752,444 spent$160,726 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2021 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,752,444.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $4.7M (−8%).
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 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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 5 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $100k → $609k.
12 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $871k from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey). These are real filings, and they are not money THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER raised.
From the IRS filings of THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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 PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% 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
45% 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 PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 25% · 2019 25% · 2020 21% · 2021 22% · 2022 23% · 2023 15% — 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
49% of THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
74% of THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M 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
THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than half 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
Government funding THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $500k on record — $500k federal, $90 state.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$500k
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$90
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 PUBLIC INTEREST 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE PUBLIC INTEREST 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 THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER?
- THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,558,247 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($1,025,150). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $6,558,247 in grants to THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER, 47 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $1,025,150 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Public Interest 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 2020–2024), and the filings of 67 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