Drug Policy Action
New York, NY · EIN 52-1951197. Reported 41 grants totalling $22.2M to 35 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- What kind of organization it is. For Drug Policy Action, the IRS classifies it under civil rights rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE R20) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 35 distinct organizations, with 80% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is extreme concentration. A grantmaker sending three quarters of its money to one organization is in practice a support fund for that organization, whatever its classification says, and an unsolicited request is very unlikely to go anywhere.
- How much its list changes. 15% 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 $40,000. Half of what it reported fell between $16,000 and $90,000; the smallest was $5,500 and the largest $6,600,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug Policy Alliance | New York, NY | $17.8M | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| More Treatment for a Better Oregon Yes to 110 | Portland, OR | $2,445,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Initiative Petition Committee No 44 | Portland, OR | $472,649 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Marijuana Policy Project | Washington, DC | $178,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Commit to Change Wa | Seattle, WA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Unite Oregon Action | Portland, OR | $145,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws | Edmond, OK | $90,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mike Schmidt for Multnomah Da | Portland, OR | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Imagine Black | Beaverton, OR | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Latino Network | Portland, OR | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Urban League of Portland | Portland, OR | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ground Game Fund | Manchaca, TX | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ground Game Texas | Manchaca, TX | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Recovery Advocacy Project Inc | Las Vegas, NV | $51,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Tina Kotek | Portland, OR | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Oregonians for Ethics | Portland, OR | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Register 2 Vote | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mississippians for Compassionate Care | Ridgeland, MS | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Smart Justice Ca Action Fund | Sacramento, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Safety and Justice Oregon | Portland, OR | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| New Approach Montana | Bozeman, MT | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Nj Can 2020 | Newark, NJ | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Act 4 Sa Action Fund | San Antonio, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Brian Decker | Beaverton, OR | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Somos Tejas | Dallas, TX | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Safety and Justice Pac | Portland, OR | $16,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| New Day Nevada Pac | Las Vegas, NV | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Chaichi for Oregon | Aloha, OR | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of Tina Kotek | Portland, OR | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Approach South Dakota | Sioux Falls, SD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws | Sioux Falls, SD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Friends of Andrea Valderrama | Portland, OR | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Kayse Jama for Oregon | Portland, OR | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Julie Fahey | Eugene, OR | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Rob Wagner | Portland, OR | $5,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
3 of 35 (9%) 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 the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Drug Policy Alliance
TO SUPPORT ALLIANCE'S OPERATIONS AND ACTIVITIES - More Treatment for a Better Oregon Yes to 110
TO SUPPORT OREGON MEASURE 110, DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION AND ADDICTION TREATMENT BALLOT INITIATIVE - Marijuana Policy Project
TO SUPPORT THE BALLOT MEASURE THAT WOULD LEGALIZE ADULT USE CANNABIS IN OKLAHOMA - Commit to Change Wa
TO SUPPORT I-1922 LEGISLATION TO DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS IN WASHINGTON STATE - Unite Oregon Action
TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF HB 4002/SB 5204 AND TO DEVELOP SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY FOR DRUG POLICY ADVOCACY - Mike Schmidt for Multnomah Da
TO SUPPORT THE MIKE SCHMIDT CAMPAIGN
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 10 of 35 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 10 | $5,787,649 | $30,000 |
| 2021 | 7 | $2,696,322 | $50,000 |
| 2022 | 13 | $5,722,500 | $20,000 |
| 2023 | 10 | $1,360,000 | $65,000 |
| 2024 | 1 | $6,600,000 | $6,600,000 |
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
80% of its giving went to organizations in New York. 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.
Down to the city
Get funders for your state and cause by email
We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.
Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.
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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- 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.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $40,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Drug Policy Action'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 1 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: 131 West 33RD Street 15TH Floor, New York, NY, 10001.
EIN 52-1951197 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.