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, and international humanitarian organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number 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 type Number of grantmakers
Community
 
43
Private
 
1,345
Corporate
 
78
Other
 
127

Grants made

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

Top 10 foundations supporting legal aid services

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to legal aid societies Number of grants made to legal aid societies Median grant size
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.1% 64 $1,000
Legal Services Corporation (LSC) DC National 65.7% 45 $3,828,051
JP Morgan Chase Foundation NY National 0.0% 40 $408
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) TN Metro 0.1% 34 $1,000
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) NJ National 0.0% 33 $375
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.1% 33 $214
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines IA State 0.1% 30 $625
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.3% 24 $225
Baird Foundation WI National 0.4% 22 $312
Salesforce Com Foundation CA National 0.0% 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 grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
2,592
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
75

Grant amount by grantee size

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

Grantee states

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

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number 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

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) $15,630,602 Legal Assistance & New Case MGMT System Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board
Lone Star Legal Aid $12,641,738 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) $12,006,567 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Puerto Rico Legal Services (SLPR) $11,041,950 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Services for New York City (LSNYC) $10,676,885 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Vera Institute of Justice $10,500,000 To Support Scaling Plan Blue Meridian Partners
Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) $10,422,930 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
South Jersey Legal Services (SJLS) $8,438,398 Grants/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 $5,974 Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ)
The Bail Project $8,000,000 To Support Scaling Plan Blue Meridian Partners
Community Legal Services $7,902,115 Provide Legal Services To Public. Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN)
Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) $7,900,267 To Provide Financial Support for Legal Assistance Programs Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC)
Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT) $7,736,381 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Connecticut Legal Services (CLS) $7,643,907 To Provide Legal Services for the Poor in Connecticut. Connecticut Bar Foundation
Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) $7,423,421 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Community Legal Aid (CLA) $6,791,114 To Provide Financial Support for Legal Assistance Programs Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC)
California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) $6,623,869 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ) $6,585,700 Grants/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 $6,000 Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ)
Indiana Legal Services (ILS) $6,136,833 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Northwest Justice Project (NJP) $5,999,556 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Services Alabama $5,465,181 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Aid Chicago (LAF) $5,291,874 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
South Carolina Legal Services $5,279,599 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles $5,267,113 Civil Legal Aid Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) $5,110,205 Social and Racial Justice California Community Foundation
Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida $4,884,114 Civil Legal Aid Legal 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.