Grants for crime and legal aid organizations

4,459 criminal and legal assistance organizations received at least $470.4 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 7,347 grants made from 4,068 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,052. Of these 4,068 foundations, 74% made just a single grant to legal aid nonprofits, and 5% made grants to four or more legal aid nonprofits. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$470,427,286
Total grant dollars given to crime and legal aid organizations
7,347
Number of grants made annually to crime and legal aid organizations
4,068
Number of grantmakers funding crime and legal aid organizations
$1,052
Median grant size to crime and legal aid organizations

Foundations that support criminal and legal assistance organizations

Out of all grants made to crime and legal aid organizations, 79% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 84% of the dollar-value of grants to legal aid nonprofits. Foundations funding legal aid nonprofits also made grants to legal aid societies, food banks, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, and youth development programs.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
3,246
Medium
 
490
Large
 
331
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
 
85
Private
 
3,424
Corporate
 
171
Other
 
388

Grants made

Grants made to legal aid nonprofitsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
3,021
2-3
 
829
4-10
 
172
11+
 
46

Top 10 foundations supporting criminal and legal assistance organizations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to legal aid nonprofitsNumber of grants made to legal aid nonprofitsMedian grant size
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.3%122$1,000
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%119$380
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.2%112$150
Seattle FoundationWAState0.2%108$1,105
Baird FoundationWINational0.9%67$125
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.4%67$100
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.4%61$500
Carmax FoundationVANational0.5%48$500
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)NJNational0.0%48$387
Westrock FoundationGANational0.1%48$39

Criminal and legal assistance organizations grantees

Crime and legal aid organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 86% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 38% of all legal aid nonprofits.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
7,256
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
91

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,275
$100k-$500k
 
$1,500
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$1,500
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
California
 
968
New York
 
793
Alabama
 
652
Texas
 
607
Other
 
4,327

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
762
Montgomery
 
612
Washington DC
 
473
Los Angeles
 
363
Other
 
4,827

Top 25 grants made to crime and legal aid organizations

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)
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)$12,500,000Final Grant To NFP Supporting Phase Ii of the Organization's Vision To Scale Plan.The Edna Mcconnell Clark Foundation
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)
Bethesda$10,000,000CashTriHealth
Bethesda$10,000,000CashTriHealth
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)$9,600,000To Support Expansion PlanBlue Meridian Partners
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)
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 "Crime and legal aid organizations" category for this page is determined by the "I00: Crime, Legal: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.