Grants for civil rights organizations

Name: Top 25 grants made to civil rights organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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 legal aid societies, youth development programs, homeless shelters, multiservice human service organizations, and universities.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number 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 type	Number of grantmakers
Community	52
Private	1,268
Corporate	85
Other	144

Grants made

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

Top 10 foundations supporting civil rights organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to civil rights orgs	Number of grants made to civil rights orgs	Median grant size
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	67	$300
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.1%	44	$250
Salesforce Com Foundation	CA	National	0.0%	31	$100
Westrock Foundation	GA	National	0.1%	26	$15
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.1%	21	$450
Carmax Foundation	VA	National	0.1%	21	$200
Arkansas Community Foundation	AR	State	0.1%	19	$1,114
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.0%	17	$3,000
Ticket to Dream Foundation	CA	National	5.6%	17	$2,125
Liberty Hill Foundation	CA	Metro	0.3%	17	$1,200

See all grantmaking to civil rights organizations

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 grant	Number of grants
<$10k	2,352
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	12

Grant amount by grantee size

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

Grantee states

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

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number 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

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights	$13,351,733	To Support Readi Chicago Year 2	The Chicago Community Trust
Aarp	$12,544,586	Charitable Work Conducted on Behalf of Aarp Foundation	AARP Foundation
Texas Women's Foundation	$11,387,516	General Support	The Dallas Foundation
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)	$9,000,000	To Provide Covid-19 Support	Blue Meridian Partners
The Martin Luther King Jr Center For Nonviolent Social Change	$6,541,000		National Park Foundation (NPF)
Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP)	$5,275,000	President's Fund	David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Borealis Philanthropy	$4,567,500	Transform 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 Collaborative	W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)
Essie Justice Group	$3,281,000	Public Safety	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Women Donors Network (WDN)	$3,010,000	General Operating Support	The Chicago Community Trust
The National Council for Incarcerated An D Formerly Incarcarated Women and Girls	$2,875,000	Public Safety	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Kentucky Youth Advocates	$2,550,000	See PT Iii, Line 4B	Kosair Charities Committee
Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP)	$2,500,000	To Provide Covid-19 Support	Blue Meridian Partners
Brave Trails	$5,000	Public Support of Organization's Mission	The Ernest G Herman Foundation
Lambda Legal	$5,000	Charitable Purpose	The Hello Beautiful Foundation
Root Social Justice Center	$5,000	Support Social Justice Programs	The Webs Foundation
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County	$5,000	2015 Discretionary Grant	Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County	$5,000	2015 Discretionary Grant	Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Denton County	$5,000	Court Advocates for Children in Denton County.	Mike A Myers Foundation
Basic Rights Oregon	$5,000	General Operating Support	L and H Foundation
Lifetime Advocacy Plus	$5,000	Unrestricted General	Osberg Family Trust
Virginia Beach Court Appointed Special Advocates	$5,000	Annual Gala Sponsorship	Monarch Charities
Northeast Texas Casa	$5,000	Furtherance of Exempt Purpose	The Bobbie A Atkinson Foundation
Williamson County CASA	$5,000	Operational Funding Request	Hca Healthcare Foundation
Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition	$5,000	Financial Assistance	Faith and Freedom Coalition
Casa New Orleans	$5,000	General Assistance	Zurich Classic of New Orleans

See all grants to civil rights organizations

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.