Grants for legal aid societies

1,048 legal aid services received at least $375.9 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 2,667 grants made from 1,593 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 1,593 foundations, 78% made just a single grant to legal aid societies, and 5% made grants to four or more legal aid societies. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$375,862,563
Total grant dollars given to legal aid societies
2,667
Number of grants made annually to legal aid societies
1,593
Number of grantmakers funding legal aid societies
$1,000
Median grant size to legal aid societies

Foundations that support legal aid services

Out of all grants made to legal aid societies, 78% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 93% of the dollar-value of grants to legal aid societies. Foundations funding legal aid societies also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, educational service providers, scholarship organizations, food banks, and international humanitarian organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
1,244
Medium
 
177
Large
 
172
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
 
43
Private
 
1,345
Corporate
 
78
Other
 
127

Grants made

Grants made to legal aid societiesNumber of grantmakers
1
 
1,249
2-3
 
260
4-10
 
64
11+
 
20

Top 10 foundations supporting legal aid services

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to legal aid societiesNumber of grants made to legal aid societiesMedian grant size
Seattle FoundationWAState0.1%64$1,000
Legal Services Corporation (LSC)DCNational65.7%45$3,828,051
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%40$408
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.1%34$1,000
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)NJNational0.0%33$375
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.1%33$214
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.1%30$625
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.3%24$225
Baird FoundationWINational0.4%22$312
Salesforce Com FoundationCANational0.0%21$100

Legal aid services grantees

Legal aid societies with more than $5 million in total revenues received 92% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 63% of all legal aid societies.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
2,592
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
75

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,534
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
Alabama
 
602
California
 
426
New York
 
276
Texas
 
181
Other
 
1,182

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
Montgomery
 
600
New York City
 
272
Washington DC
 
184
San Francisco
 
183
Other
 
1,390

Top 25 grants made to legal aid societies

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN)$15,630,602Legal Assistance & New Case MGMT SystemPennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board
Lone Star Legal Aid$12,641,738Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA)$12,006,567Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Puerto Rico Legal Services (SLPR)$11,041,950Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Services for New York City (LSNYC)$10,676,885Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Vera Institute of Justice$10,500,000To Support Scaling PlanBlue Meridian Partners
Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC)$10,422,930Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
South Jersey Legal Services (SJLS)$8,438,398Grants/assistance Were Awarded for the Following Legal Services Program:campaign for Justice $64,068iolta Basic Grant $611,508state of NJ Subgrant $5,221,432state of NJ - Filing Fees $2,535,416iolta Student Legal Intern Program $5,974Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ)
The Bail Project$8,000,000To Support Scaling PlanBlue Meridian Partners
Community Legal Services$7,902,115Provide Legal Services To Public.Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN)
Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS)$7,900,267To Provide Financial Support for Legal Assistance ProgramsMassachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC)
Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT)$7,736,381Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Connecticut Legal Services (CLS)$7,643,907To Provide Legal Services for the Poor in Connecticut.Connecticut Bar Foundation
Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP)$7,423,421Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Community Legal Aid (CLA)$6,791,114To Provide Financial Support for Legal Assistance ProgramsMassachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC)
California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA)$6,623,869Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ)$6,585,700Grants/assistance Were Awarded for the Following Legal Services Program:campaign for Justice $51,827iolta Basic Grant $490,759state of NJ Subgrant $4,042,423state of NJ - Filing Fees $1,994,691iolta Student Legal Intern Program $6,000Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ)
Indiana Legal Services (ILS)$6,136,833Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Northwest Justice Project (NJP)$5,999,556Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Services Alabama$5,465,181Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Aid Chicago (LAF)$5,291,874Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
South Carolina Legal Services$5,279,599Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles$5,267,113Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)$5,110,205Social and Racial JusticeCalifornia Community Foundation
Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida$4,884,114Civil Legal AidLegal Services Corporation (LSC)
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 "Legal aid societies" category for this page is determined by the "I80: Legal Services" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.