Grants for civil rights and social justice organizations

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

3,348 civil rights and advocacy organizations received at least $478.8 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 5,717 grants made from 3,145 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 3,145 foundations, 72% made just a single grant to social justice orgs, and 6% made grants to four or more social justice orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$478,808,449

Total grant dollars given to civil rights and social justice organizations

5,717

Number of grants made annually to civil rights and social justice organizations

3,145

Number of grantmakers funding civil rights and social justice organizations

$1,000

Median grant size to civil rights and social justice organizations

Foundations that support civil rights and advocacy organizations

Out of all grants made to civil rights and social justice organizations, 78% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 59% of the dollar-value of grants to social justice orgs. Foundations funding social justice orgs also made grants to legal aid societies, civil liberties organizations, food banks, youth development programs, and international humanitarian organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	2,455
Medium	375
Large	314

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	72
Private	2,668
Corporate	137
Other	268

Grants made

Grants made to social justice orgs	Number of grantmakers
1	2,285
2-3	662
4-10	163
11+	35

Top 10 foundations supporting civil rights and advocacy organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to social justice orgs	Number of grants made to social justice orgs	Median grant size
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.1%	107	$470
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.2%	96	$209
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.2%	83	$1,500
Arkansas Community Foundation	AR	State	0.3%	78	$1,257
Salesforce Com Foundation	CA	National	0.0%	57	$50
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.3%	54	$475
Liberty Hill Foundation	CA	Metro	1.0%	46	$1,750
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.7%	43	$333
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)	NJ	National	0.0%	35	$500
Synchrony Foundation	CT	National	0.1%	34	$200

See all grantmaking to civil rights and social justice organizations

Civil rights and advocacy organizations grantees

Civil rights and social justice organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 92% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 45% of all social justice orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	5,654
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	63

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,448
$100k-$500k	$1,200
$500k-$1M	$1,500
$1M-$5M	$1,406
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	1,213
District of Columbia	775
California	698
Virginia	391
Other	2,640

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	1,200
Washington DC	1,117
San Francisco	331
Los Angeles	241
Other	2,679

Top 25 grants made to civil rights and social justice organizations

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
International Republican Institute (IRI)	$33,696,723	Democracy Assistance	Consortium For Elections and Political Process Strengthening
Fwdus	$27,465,560	Actual	Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy
America Votes	$27,150,000	Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy	Sixteen Thirty Fund
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)	$20,363,950	Litigation/legal Res	American Center for Law and Justice / Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism Inc
International Republican Institute (IRI)	$18,333,281	Democratic Governance & Political Parties	National Endowment for Democracy
Fwdus	$14,173,310	General Operations	Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights	$13,351,733	To Support Readi Chicago Year 2	The Chicago Community Trust
The Broad Center	$13,025,400	Education - To Develop and Support Leaders and Managers of Public School Districts, Charter Management Orgs and State and Federal Education Agencies	The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP)	$12,775,573	FMV	Stand Together Trust
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP)	$12,775,573	Market Value	Stand Together Trust
Aarp	$12,544,586	Charitable Work Conducted on Behalf of Aarp Foundation	AARP Foundation
National Rifle Association (NRA)	$12,073,526	Community Outreach, Training, Safety, Education, 2nd Amendment, General Shooting Program, Hunting / Conservation, Endowment Grant, Scholarships	NRA Foundation
National Rifle Association (NRA)	$12,073,526	Cash Value	NRA Foundation
Texas Women's Foundation	$11,387,516	General Support	The Dallas Foundation
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)	$11,101,612	Revenue Based Allocation Method	ACLU Foundation
National Rifle Association (NRA)	$11,088,682	Cash Value	NRA Foundation
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)	$9,000,000	To Provide Covid-19 Support	Blue Meridian Partners
Center for American Progress Action Fund	$8,847,495	Public Education & Advocacy	Center for American Progress (CAP)
League of Conservation Voters	$8,000,000	Environmental Programs	Sixteen Thirty Fund
UnidosUS	$7,637,657	Support the Racial Equity Anchor Institutions in Advancing Racial Equity and Racial Healing Thru Increase Civic Engagement in Communities of Color and the Development and Deployment of Effective Multiracial Narratives	W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)
The Martin Luther King Jr Center For Nonviolent Social Change	$6,541,000		National Park Foundation (NPF)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)	$6,197,240	Fte Based Allocation Methodology	ACLU Foundation
Voters Not Politicians	$6,000,000	Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy	Sixteen Thirty Fund
Center for Community Change (CCC)	$5,500,000	Economic Justice Project	The JPB Foundation
Naral Pro-Choice America	$5,347,412	FMV	Naral Pro-Choice America Foundation

See all grants to civil rights and social justice 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 and social justice organizations" category for this page is determined by the "R00: Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.