New York · Nonprofit
VERA ACTION INC
VERA ACTION INC (New York) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,400,000 to it, the largest being OPEN SOCIETY ACTION FUND INC ($3,750,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $6.4M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Vera Action Inc does
Mission
Vera action is an independent, but aligned advocacy organization to the vera institute of justice, a 501(c)(3). Vera action harnesses the power of advocacy, lobbying, and political strategy to end mass incarceration, protect immigrants' rights, restore dignity to people behind bars, and build safe and thriving communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Messaging justice:vera action produces public opinion research to shape a national conversation about safety and justice that recognizes that we can have both. We use tested messages and polling in our issue advocacy and media campaigns to counter fear-based narratives that otherwise dominate media and political dialogue.state and local advocacy:vera action brings data, evidence, and solutions to the policy arena. We work in over 20 statehouses and city and county legislatures across the country on campaigns for pretrial justice, ending unjust fines and fees, advancing the right to counsel for immigrants, winning budget investments in community-driven safety, and more.federal policy:vera action advocates in congress and the administration to impact federal levers for justice reform including appropriations, executive action, and federal legislation. In coalition with other advocates, we lead or are a part of federal campaigns to expand access to college in prison, win the right to guaranteed counsel for immigrants facing deportation, and advance sentencing reform, jail and prison oversight, and police accountability.
$3,636,576 spentof which $197,640 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,636,576.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $2.3M to $2.9M (+29%).
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.
99% of VERA ACTION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Bari Mattes
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $2.5M.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 VERA ACTION INC’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
VERA ACTION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 VERA ACTION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 68% · 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.
Where its funders are
65% of VERA ACTION INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $600k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
VERA ACTION INC 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
Organizations like VERA ACTION INC
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Vera Institute of Justice Inc · exempt
- Project Guardianship Inc · exempt
- Activating Change Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VERA ACTION INC: 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 VERA ACTION INC?
- VERA ACTION INC (New York) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,400,000 to it, the largest being OPEN SOCIETY ACTION FUND INC ($3,750,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does VERA ACTION INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $6,400,000 in grants to VERA ACTION INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VERA ACTION INC?
- OPEN SOCIETY ACTION FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VERA ACTION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 5 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