New York · Nonprofit
VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC
VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC (New York) receives grants from 213 organizations whose IRS filings report $221,650,220 to it, the largest being BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC ($38,150,000). 121 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $40M
- Funders on record
- 213
- Grants received
- $222M
- Net assets
- $113M
What Vera Institute of Justice Inc does
Mission
Vera is a national organization that partners with impacted communities and government leaders to transform the criminal, legal, and immigration systems. Using policy, research, and communication expertise, vera works to end the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Communications & external affairscommunications & external affairs advances vera's mission as a national organization. The function provides strategic, accurate, and values driven communication that reflects vera's policy, research, and advocacy efforts to end the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty. It ensures that all internal and external communications are transparent, consistent, and aligned with vera's organizational priorities, while strengthening engagement with stakeholders and supporting the organization's public credibility and impact.
$4,785,725 spent13% of program spendingAdvancing universal representation:the advancing universal representation initiative is driving a national movement for universal representation. Our goal is to establish a federal right to representation for all immigrants facing deportation. By fighting for universal representation, the initiative and its partners are keeping families together; disrupting the criminalization and deportation of immigrants and their families; and protecting people from the deplorable conditions of immigration detention.
$3,378,538 spent9% of program spendingRestoring promiserestoring promise is an initiative of the vera institute of justice that seeks to transform prison cultures, climates, and spaces by partnering with correctional leaders to reimagine housing units for young adults and realign corrections policies and practices with a commitment to human dignity.
$3,326,994 spent9% of program spendingOther programsreshaping prosecution, advocacy & partnership, redefining public safety, vera louisiana, beyond jails, unlocking potential, end girls' incarceration, incarceration and inequality, central research, innovation and strategy, vera california, opening doors, greater justice new york, true line, new initiatives,
$25,418,024 spentof which $2,422,399 as grants69% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $36,909,281.
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 2021 to 2022, from $153M to $247M (+62%).
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: 2017 78% · 2018 67% · 2019 80% · 2020 77% · 2021 82% · 2022 82% · 2023 79% · 2024 74% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (95% 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
Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 44 funders to 75 funders, grant income rose $18M → $21M.
42 of 213 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 VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 213 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
VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC 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
65% 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 INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 22% · 2019 26% · 2020 34% · 2021 27% · 2022 46% · 2023 23% — 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
39% of VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
57% of VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 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. $90M 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.
Against its field
VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC is better cushioned than half of the 165 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 165 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.2B on record — $1.2B federal, $172k state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$524.0M
- Department of the Interior$459.0M
- Department of Justice$182.1M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$65k
- MA$125k
- CT$47k
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 VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Vera Action Inc · exempt
- Project Guardianship Inc · exempt
- Activating Change Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 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 INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC?
- VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC (New York) receives grants from 213 organizations whose IRS filings report $221,650,220 to it, the largest being BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC ($38,150,000). 121 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC have?
- IRS filings report 213 organizations giving $221,650,220 in grants to VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC, 121 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC?
- BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC is the largest funder on record, with $38,150,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 213 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