Texas · Nonprofit
WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT
WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT (Texas) receives grants from 97 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,974,181 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($6,090,125). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 97
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $9.4M
What Workers Defense Project does
Mission
Workers Defense Project is a member-led organization that organizes latine immigrant workers in texas to fight for dignity and respect.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Employment and legal services: through workers defense employment legal services department we organize with workers to support them in addressing workplace issues like wage theft, unsafe conditions, retaliation etc. We support them with the legal aspects of that work and ensure that those workers stay involved in our larger work in support of worker justice in texas. We train workers on their labor rights so they have the tools to speak up for themselves and others at the job.
$973,408 spentof which $126,810 as grants$49,076 earned by the program25% of program spendingOrganizing: organizing is at the heart of all of our work, but through the organizing department we work to increase our base of members, provide leadership trainings to our current members and together run issue campaigns that help to improve the lives of workers and immigrants in texas.
$1,484,656 spentof which $494,064 as grants38% of program spendingBetter builder program: we work to highlight the dangers of the construction industry in texas and work directly with developers or local governments to set high standards for worksites to ensure that workers are safe at the job and have good benefits that allow them to support their families.
$1,395,351 spentof which $250,000 as grants36% of program spendingEmergency assistance: this project recognizes that at times there are needs in the community; in 2024 there were two big storms that impacted the houston area and the dallas area. Those storms left a lot of community members struggling to replace lost food, damages to their homes and lost hours of work. This project provided a small amount of grants to impacted communities that reached out for support in the aftermath of the storms.
$37,615 spentof which $37,000 as grants1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,891,030.
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 $6.0M to $11M (+90%).
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 4% · 2018 3% · 2019 0% · 2020 36% · 2021 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Lizeth Chacon
Executive director
Board chair
Isaac Faz
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 22 funders, grant income rose $2.0M → $3.3M.
18 of 97 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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: $494k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Workers Defense Project). These are real filings, and they are not money WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT raised.
From the IRS filings of WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 97 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
WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
50% 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 WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 33% · 2019 49% · 2020 23% · 2021 30% · 2022 29% · 2023 34% — 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
40% of WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $315k on record.
- Department of Labor$315k
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 WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Workers Defense Action Fund · exempt
- Workers Defense in Action PAC · exempt
- Workers Defense Action Fund PAC · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT: 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 WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT?
- WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT (Texas) receives grants from 97 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,974,181 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($6,090,125). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 97 organizations giving $24,974,181 in grants to WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,090,125 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WORKERS DEFENSE PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 97 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