Grants for legal aid societies

Name: Top 25 grants made to legal aid services
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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 food banks, homeless shelters, educational service providers, youth development programs, and homeless assistance program.

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

See all grantmaking to legal aid societies

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)

See all grants to legal aid societies

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.