Grantmakers › District of Columbia

American Association for Justice

Washington, DC · EIN 04-2114561. Reported 246 grants totalling $7,468,050 to 53 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

53organizations funded
$14,160median reported grant
$7,468,050granted, 2020-2024
99%of grantees funded again the next year
54%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 53 distinct organizations, with 54% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
  3. How much its list changes. 99% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $14,160. Half of what it reported fell between $14,160 and $14,160; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $4,000,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
9 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
233 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants
$250,000 Or More
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
American Association for Justice Education FundWashington, DC$4,000,000112024
Ewg Action FundWashington, DC$135,000552024
Alabama Association for Justice IncMontgomery, AL$70,800552024
Alaska Trial LawyersAnchorage, AK$70,800552024
Arizona Trial Lawyers AssociationPhoenix, AZ$70,800552024
Arkansas Trial Lawyers AssociationLittle Rock, AR$70,800552024
Colorado Trial Lawyers AssociationDenver, CO$70,800552024
Connecticut Trial Lawyers AssociationHartford, CT$70,800552024
Delaware Trial Lawyers AssociationWilmington, DE$70,800552024
Florida Justice Association IncTallahassee, FL$70,800552024
Georgia Trial Lawyers Association IncAtlanta, GA$70,800552024
Hawaii Association for JusticeHonolulu, HI$70,800552024
Idaho Trial Lawyers AssociationBoise, ID$70,800552024
Illinois Trial Lawyers AssociationSpringfield, IL$70,800552024
Indiana Trial Lawyers Association CorporationIndianapolis, IN$70,800552024
Iowa Association for JusticeWdm, IA$70,800552024
Kansas Trial Lawyers AssociationTopeka, KS$70,800552024
Kentucky Justice Association IncLouisville, KY$70,800552024
Maine Trial Lawyers AssociationAugusta, ME$70,800552024
Maryland Association for Justice IncColumbia, MD$70,800552024
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys IncWoburn, MA$70,800552024
Michigan Association for JusticeLansing, MI$70,800552024
Minnesota Association for Justice IncMinneapolis, MN$70,800552024
Mississippi Association for JusticeJackson, MS$70,800552024
Missouri Association of Trial AttorneysJefferson Cty, MO$70,800552024
Montana Trial Lawyers AssociationHelena, MT$70,800552024
Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys IncOmaha, NE$70,800552024
Nevada Trial Lawyers AssocCarson City, NV$70,800552024
New Hampshire Association for JusticeConcord, NH$70,800552024
New Jersey Association for Justice IncTrenton, NJ$70,800552024
New Mexico Trial Lawyers Assoc IncAlbuquerque, NM$70,800552024
New York State Trial Lawyers AssociationNew York, NY$70,800552024
North Carolina Advocates for JusticeRaleigh, NC$70,800552024
North Dakota Trial Lawyers AssociationMandan, ND$70,800552024
Oklahoma Association for JusticeOklahoma City, OK$70,800552024
Oregon Trial Lawyers AssociationPortland, OR$70,800552024
Pennsylvania Association for JusticeHarrisburg, PA$70,800552024
Rhode Island Trial Lawyers AssociationProvidence, RI$70,800552024
South Carolina Association for JusticeColumbia, SC$70,800552024
South Dakota Trial Lawyers AssociationSioux Falls, SD$70,800552024
Tennessee Trial Lawyers AssociationNashville, TN$70,800552024
Utah Trial Lawyers Association IncSalt Lake City, UT$70,800552024
Vermont Trial Lawyers AssociationS Burlington, VT$70,800552024
Virginia Trial Lawyers AssociationRichmond, VA$70,800552024
Washington State Association for JusticeSeattle, WA$70,800552024
West Virginia Association for Justice IncCharleston, WV$70,800552024
Wisconsin Academy of Trial LawyersMadison, WI$70,800552024
Wyoming Trial Lawyers AssociationCheyenne, WY$70,800552024
National Association of Trial Lawyer ExecutivesS Burlington, VT$30,000442024
Public Citizen Foundation IncWashington, DC$16,000222022
Consumer Federation of America IncWashington, DC$14,000222024
Shades of MassWashington, DC$8,750112024
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights IncWashington, DC$7,500112024

50 of 53 (94%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 5 of 53 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Community Improvement
2 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
2 orgs
Crime & Legal
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202048$677,360$14,160
202148$678,860$14,160
202249$693,860$14,160
202349$699,860$14,160
202452$4,718,110$14,160

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

56% of its giving went to organizations in District of Columbia. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

District of Columbia
$4.2M
Vermont
$101K
Alabama
$71K
Alaska
$71K
Arizona
$71K
Arkansas
$71K
Colorado
$71K
Connecticut
$71K

Down to the city

Washington, DC
$4.2M
S Burlington, VT
$101K
Montgomery, AL
$71K
Anchorage, AK
$71K
Phoenix, AZ
$71K
Little Rock, AR
$71K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

American Endowment Foundation2 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund2 shared recipientsTides Foundation2 shared recipientsUnited States Energy Foundation2 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc2 shared recipientsUnited Steel Paper and Forestry2 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $14,160 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in District of Columbia.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from American Association for Justice's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 4 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 48 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 777 6TH St Nw 300, Washington, DC, 20001.

EIN 04-2114561 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.