Grantmakers › District of Columbia

Detention Watch Network

Washington, DC · EIN 83-3874583. Reported 83 grants totalling $1,571,519 to 54 organizations across tax years 2021-2025, on Form 990 Schedule I.

54organizations funded
$15,000median reported grant
$1,571,519granted, 2021-2025
32%of grantees funded again the next year
10%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. For Detention Watch Network, the IRS classifies it under human services rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE P84) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 54 distinct organizations, with 10% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 32% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below 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 $15,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $5,167 and the largest $128,872. 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
13 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
53 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
14 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
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
Alliance for Global JusticeTucson, AZ$162,600552025
Immigrant Legal Resource CenterSan Francisco, CA$128,872112025
Inland Congregation United for Change Sponsoring Committee IncSn Bernrdno, CA$67,000322022
Free Migration ProjectPhiladelphia, PA$66,000332025
Center for Civic PolicyAlbuquerque, NM$61,650332025
Organized Communities Against DeportationsChicago, IL$56,250332025
Adelante Alabama Worker CenterBirmingham, AL$50,000112021
Immigrant Services and Legal AdvocacyNew Orleans, LA$46,500332024
Interfaith Movement for Human IntegrityOakland, CA$44,000332023
JuntosPhiladelphia, PA$43,700222024
Common FoundationBoulder, CO$43,500222024
Minnesota Interfaith Coalition on Immigration IcomMinneapolis, MN$43,000332025
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational FundLos Angeles, CA$39,500222023
Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in DetentionShreveport, LA$38,150112025
American Friends Service CommitteePhiladelphia, PA$34,000112025
Action of Greater LansingLansing, MI$32,000112025
Grassroots Leadership IncAustin, TX$31,600222022
Park Avenue Baptist Church IncorporatedAtlanta, GA$31,000222024
Community InitiativesOakland, CA$30,150112025
Movimiento Cosecha Support NetworkEasthampton, MA$30,000112025
Center for Transformative ActionIthaca, NY$27,000222023
Families for Freedom IncNew York, NY$26,000222022
First Friends of New Jersey and New YorkKearny, NJ$25,000222025
New Venture FundWashington, DC$25,000112021
El Refugio Ministry IncDecatur, GA$24,000222025
Northwest Alliance for Alternative Media & EducationPortland, OR$20,167212022
Advocates for Immigration Rights & Reconciliation IncKansas City, MO$20,000112025
Dolores C Huerta FoundationBakersfield, CA$20,000112025
Home Is Here NolaNew Orleans, LA$20,000112024
Migrant Equity Southeast IncSavannah, GA$20,000112025
Immigrant Action Alliance IncKey Largo, FL$17,000112023
MN8Saint Paul, MN$16,500112022
Carolina Migrant Network IncCharlotte, NC$16,000112025
Neo Philanthropy IncNew York, NY$16,000222025
New Mexico Immigrant Law CenterAlbuquerque, NM$16,000112025
Social Good Fund IncRichmond, CA$15,000112023
The Translatin CoalitionLos Angeles, CA$15,000112024
Culture Hub LLCNew York, NY$13,000112025
Black Diaspora Liberty Initiative IncAtlanta, GA$11,000112025
Southeast Immigrant Rights Network IncCollege Park, GA$10,300112025
Alliance to Mobilize Our ResistanceProvidence, RI$10,000112025
Calvary Episcopal Church Foundation IncRichmond, TX$10,000112023
Friends of Miami-Dade DetaineesHollywood, FL$10,000112022
MN8Saint Paul, MN$10,000112025
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee RightsOakland, CA$10,000112023
Rainbow Defense Fund IncTucson, AZ$10,000112025
United We Dream Network IncWashington, DC$8,138112021
Centro De Trabajadores Unidos United Workers CenterChicago, IL$8,000112022
Community PartnersLos Angeles, CA$8,000112022
St Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin AmericaSt Louis, MO$8,000112022
Center for Community ChangeWashington, DC$7,637112021
Mijente Support CommitteePhoenix, AZ$7,138112021
Equality Alliance of San Diego CountySan Diego, CA$7,000112023
Organized Poder LLCTucson, AZ$5,167112022

18 of 54 (33%) 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.

It also reported 6 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 40 of 54 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.

Human Services
13 orgs
Civil Rights
9 orgs
Community Improvement
4 orgs
International Affairs
2 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
2 orgs
Environment
2 orgs
Crime & Legal
2 orgs
Religion
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202113$259,113$16,000
202223$412,784$13,000
202312$171,000$15,000
202410$155,000$15,000
202525$573,622$16,000

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

24% of its giving went to organizations in California. 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.

California
$385K
Arizona
$185K
Pennsylvania
$144K
Louisiana
$105K
Georgia
$96K
New York
$82K
New Mexico
$78K
Minnesota
$70K

Down to the city

Tucson, AZ
$178K
Philadelphia, PA
$144K
San Francisco, CA
$129K
Oakland, CA
$84K
Albuquerque, NM
$78K
Sn Bernrdno, CA
$67K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund23 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc22 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc20 shared recipientsAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc19 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program18 shared recipientsNeo Philanthropy Inc18 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 $15,000 -- 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 California.
  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.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding international affairs in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Detention Watch Network's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). 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 25 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: 1730 Rhode Island Ave 711, Washington, DC, 20036.

EIN 83-3874583 · 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.