GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

American Association for Justice

Washington, DC · EIN 04-2114561. Reported 194 grants totalling $2,749,940 to 50 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

50organizations funded
$14,160median reported grant
$2,749,940granted, 2020-2023
98%of grantees funded again the next year
4%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. 50 distinct organizations, with 4% 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. 98% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

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 $35,000. 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
5 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
187 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants

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
Ewg Action FundWashington, DC$100,000442023
Alabama Association for Justice IncMontgomery, AL$56,640442023
Alaska Trial LawyersAnchorage, AK$56,640442023
Arizona Trial Lawyers AssociationPhoenix, AZ$56,640442023
Arkansas Trial Lawyers AssociationLittle Rock, AR$56,640442023
Colorado Trial Lawyers AssociationDenver, CO$56,640442023
Connecticut Trial Lawyers AssociationHartford, CT$56,640442023
Delaware Trial Lawyers AssociationWilmington, DE$56,640442023
Florida Justice Association IncTallahassee, FL$56,640442023
Georgia Trial Lawyers Association IncAtlanta, GA$56,640442023
Hawaii Association for JusticeHonolulu, HI$56,640442023
Idaho Trial Lawyers AssociationBoise, ID$56,640442023
Illinois Trial Lawyers AssociationSpringfield, IL$56,640442023
Indiana Trial Lawyers Association CorporationIndianapolis, IN$56,640442023
Iowa Association for JusticeWdm, IA$56,640442023
Kansas Trial Lawyers AssociationTopeka, KS$56,640442023
Kentucky Justice Association IncLouisville, KY$56,640442023
Maine Trial Lawyers AssociationAugusta, ME$56,640442023
Maryland Association for Justice IncColumbia, MD$56,640442023
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys IncWoburn, MA$56,640442023
Michigan Association for JusticeLansing, MI$56,640442023
Minnesota Association for Justice IncMinneapolis, MN$56,640442023
Mississippi Association for JusticeJackson, MS$56,640442023
Missouri Association of Trial AttorneysJefferson Cty, MO$56,640442023
Montana Trial Lawyers AssociationHelena, MT$56,640442023
Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys IncOmaha, NE$56,640442023
Nevada Trial Lawyers AssocCarson City, NV$56,640442023
New Hampshire Association for JusticeConcord, NH$56,640442023
New Jersey Association for Justice IncTrenton, NJ$56,640442023
New Mexico Trial Lawyers Assoc IncAlbuquerque, NM$56,640442023
New York State Trial Lawyers AssociationNew York, NY$56,640442023
North Carolina Advocates for JusticeRaleigh, NC$56,640442023
North Dakota Trial Lawyers AssociationMandan, ND$56,640442023
Oklahoma Association for JusticeOklahoma City, OK$56,640442023
Oregon Trial Lawyers AssociationPortland, OR$56,640442023
Pennsylvania Association for JusticeHarrisburg, PA$56,640442023
Rhode Island Trial Lawyers AssociationProvidence, RI$56,640442023
South Carolina Association for JusticeColumbia, SC$56,640442023
South Dakota Trial Lawyers AssociationSioux Falls, SD$56,640442023
Tennessee Trial Lawyers AssociationNashville, TN$56,640442023
Utah Trial Lawyers Association IncSalt Lake City, UT$56,640442023
Vermont Trial Lawyers AssociationS Burlington, VT$56,640442023
Virginia Trial Lawyers AssociationRichmond, VA$56,640442023
Washington State Association for JusticeSeattle, WA$56,640442023
West Virginia Association for Justice IncCharleston, WV$56,640442023
Wisconsin Academy of Trial LawyersMadison, WI$56,640442023
Wyoming Trial Lawyers AssociationCheyenne, WY$56,640442023
National Association of Trial Lawyer ExecutivesS Burlington, VT$22,500332023
Public Citizen Foundation IncWashington, DC$16,000222022
Consumer Federation of America IncWashington, DC$6,000112023

49 of 50 (98%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 5 of 50 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- 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

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

4% 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
$122K
Vermont
$79K
Alabama
$57K
Alaska
$57K
Arizona
$57K
Arkansas
$57K
Colorado
$57K
Connecticut
$57K

Down to the city

Washington, DC
$122K
S Burlington, VT
$79K
Montgomery, AL
$57K
Anchorage, AK
$57K
Phoenix, AZ
$57K
Little Rock, AR
$57K

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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 the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Tides Foundation2 shared recipientsUnited States Energy Foundation2 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc2 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 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 2 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 47 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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