Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES
VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,787,714 to it, the largest being THE CERES FOUNDATION INC ($560,000). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $3.8M
What Volunteer Legal Advocates does
Mission
To advocate for domestic violence victims, at-risk children, and other vulnerable individuals by providing over $22.8m in pro bono legal services, social service referrals, and on-going support; to train and support a strong network of volunteer lawyers and community advocates.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Domestic violence program:legal assistance: volunteer and staff lawyers represent low-income domestic violence survivors in protection order and family law cases and advocate for victim rights in criminal proceedings against abusers. Walk-in legal clinics: our lawyers provide legal assistance at community-based clinics and at a court-based clinic. Support services: our advocates provide safety planning, trauma-informed crisis intervention, ongoing emotional support, and access to critical social services. Legal help line: our advocates respond to hundreds of callers' requests for information on victim rights, legal services, and provide referrals to partner organizations.
$1,735,115 spent42% of program spendingImmigration program:volunteer and staff lawyers assist low-income immigrant survivors of domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence and vulnerable children with vawa self-petitions, battered spouse waivers, u and t visas, affirmative and defensive asylum claims, special immigrant juvenile status, tps, daca, work authorizations and other forms of immigration relief. The goal is to help immigrant victims, a majority of whom are not permitted to legally work in the u.s., in achieving safety, stability, and self-sufficiency by providing comprehensive and trauma-informed legal and support services.
$1,045,009 spent25% of program spendingChild advocacy program:our court-appointed volunteer and staff attorneys advocate for children growing up in homes with abuse, neglect, domestic violence, substance abuse and other dangerous circumstances and connect the children and their families with crucial social services. In over 95% of the cases, judges accept our attorneys' recommendations.
$862,623 spent21% of program spendingMaryland domestic violence program:legal assistance: volunteer and staff lawyers provide comprehensive trauma-informed legal, advocacy, and support services to approximately 220 low-income victims of domestic violence in montgomery county, maryland. With an extensive network of access points, collaborations with cross-referral partners, and targeted outreach, we reach the most underserved victims in montgomery county, maryland.
$515,649 spent12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,158,396.
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 $1.9M to $2.9M (+55%).
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 30% · 2018 25% · 2019 39% · 2020 34% · 2021 44% · 2022 37% · 2023 36% · 2024 63% · 2025 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
101% of VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (39% 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
Sara Tennen
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $75k → $736k.
13 of 66 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.
From the IRS filings of VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
48% 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 VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 22% · 2019 28% · 2020 20% · 2021 20% · 2022 17% · 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
52% of VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES draws 81% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 14 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,367 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,367 housing & shelter nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $750k on record.
- Department of Justice$750k
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 VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES
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
86% 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 13 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES: 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 VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES?
- VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,787,714 to it, the largest being THE CERES FOUNDATION INC ($560,000). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $3,787,714 in grants to VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES, 41 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES?
- THE CERES FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $560,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES 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 Volunteer Legal Advocates →
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 66 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