Grants for civil rights organizations

1,437 civil rights organizations received at least $81.7 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 2,364 grants made from 1,549 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,200. Of these 1,549 foundations, 82% made just a single grant to civil rights orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more civil rights orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$81,717,890
Total grant dollars given to civil rights organizations
2,364
Number of grants made annually to civil rights organizations
1,549
Number of grantmakers funding civil rights organizations
$1,200
Median grant size to civil rights organizations

Foundations that support civil rights organizations

Out of all grants made to civil rights organizations, 74% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 94% of the dollar-value of grants to civil rights orgs. Foundations funding civil rights orgs also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, youth development programs, legal aid societies, scholarship organizations, and colleges.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
1,158
Medium
 
200
Large
 
191
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation typeNumber of grantmakers
Community
 
52
Private
 
1,268
Corporate
 
85
Other
 
144

Grants made

Grants made to civil rights orgsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
1,278
2-3
 
216
4-10
 
33
11+
 
22

Top 10 foundations supporting civil rights organizations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to civil rights orgsNumber of grants made to civil rights orgsMedian grant size
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%67$300
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.1%44$250
Salesforce Com FoundationCANational0.0%31$100
Westrock FoundationGANational0.1%26$15
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.1%21$450
Carmax FoundationVANational0.1%21$200
Arkansas Community FoundationARState0.1%19$1,114
Seattle FoundationWAState0.0%17$3,000
Ticket to Dream FoundationCANational5.6%17$2,125
Liberty Hill FoundationCAMetro0.3%17$1,200

Civil rights organizations grantees

Civil rights organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 77% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 35% of all civil rights orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
2,352
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
12

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,500
$100k-$500k
 
$1,093
$500k-$1M
 
$1,800
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
New York
 
403
California
 
382
District of Columbia
 
201
Virginia
 
190
Other
 
1,188

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
390
Washington DC
 
363
San Francisco
 
164
Los Angeles
 
163
Other
 
1,203

Top 25 grants made to civil rights organizations

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights$13,351,733To Support Readi Chicago Year 2The Chicago Community Trust
Aarp$12,544,586Charitable Work Conducted on Behalf of Aarp FoundationAARP Foundation
Texas Women's Foundation$11,387,516General SupportThe Dallas Foundation
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)$9,000,000To Provide Covid-19 SupportBlue Meridian Partners
The Martin Luther King Jr Center For Nonviolent Social Change$6,541,000National Park Foundation (NPF)
Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP)$5,275,000President's FundDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation
Borealis Philanthropy$4,567,500Transform Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Philanthropic Field By Building the Strong Sector's Capacity To Integrate Racial Equity Within Institutions Serving the Infrastructure of Philanthropy Through Support of Efforts of A Funding CollaborativeW.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)
Essie Justice Group$3,281,000Public SafetySilicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Women Donors Network (WDN)$3,010,000General Operating SupportThe Chicago Community Trust
The National Council for Incarcerated An D Formerly Incarcarated Women and Girls$2,875,000Public SafetySilicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Kentucky Youth Advocates$2,550,000See PT Iii, Line 4BKosair Charities Committee
Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP)$2,500,000To Provide Covid-19 SupportBlue Meridian Partners
Brave Trails$5,000Public Support of Organization's MissionThe Ernest G Herman Foundation
Lambda Legal$5,000Charitable PurposeThe Hello Beautiful Foundation
Root Social Justice Center$5,000Support Social Justice ProgramsThe Webs Foundation
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County$5,0002015 Discretionary GrantKenneth Rainin Foundation
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County$5,0002015 Discretionary GrantKenneth Rainin Foundation
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Denton County$5,000Court Advocates for Children in Denton County.Mike A Myers Foundation
Basic Rights Oregon$5,000General Operating SupportL and H Foundation
Lifetime Advocacy Plus$5,000Unrestricted GeneralOsberg Family Trust
Virginia Beach Court Appointed Special Advocates$5,000Annual Gala SponsorshipMonarch Charities
Northeast Texas Casa$5,000Furtherance of Exempt PurposeThe Bobbie A Atkinson Foundation
Williamson County CASA$5,000Operational Funding RequestHca Healthcare Foundation
Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition$5,000Financial AssistanceFaith and Freedom Coalition
Casa New Orleans$5,000General AssistanceZurich Classic of New Orleans
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Civil rights organizations" category for this page is determined by the "R20: Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.