Legal Empowerment Fund
Funding Amount
Not stated
Deadline
Deadline not published
Grant Type
Foundation
Deadline history & next window
- Cycle
- Annual
- Tracked since
- April 2026
Source: the cycle recorded on this listing. Confirm dates with the funder.
Overview
Geographic Scope: California
Background: The Legal Empowerment Fund is a grant opportunity launched by California ChangeLawyers in 2021. The fund was created as a response to the deepening public consciousness about the importance of law on social justice issues and the need for lawyers of all backgrounds to rise to the challenges posed by the ongoing racial reckoning and the lack of equal justice under the law.
Mission & Focus Areas: The fund adopts a broad-based approach to harnessing the power of lawyers for good. Specifically, it seeks to:
- Foster movement lawyering
- Build the capacity of smaller and newer legal organizations
- Support new, diverse leaders in the legal profession
Priority Areas:
- Movement Lawyering
- Leadership Pathways (General)
- Leadership Pathways (Fellowship)
- Capacity Building
Eligible Organization Types: Legal organizations, including nonprofit legal services organizations
Contact Information:
- Phone: 415-856-0780
- Address: 1 Embarcadero Center Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94111
- Website: changelawyers.org
Past recipients of this program
Recent awards under this program (from California Changelawyers's IRS filings)
Los Osos, CA · 2024
$40K
Oakland, CA · 2024
$40K
California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice
Oakland, CA · 2024
$40K
Washington, DC · 2024
$40K
American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education
Chicago, IL · 2024
$40K
26 grants in California Changelawyers's 2023–2024 filings reference “Legal Empowerment Fund” in their stated purpose. Amounts and places as reported by the funder.
What California Changelawyers actually gave
Source: IRS Form 990, 2024
- Grants in 2024
- 24
- Total given
- $692K
- Median grant
- $30K
- Range
- $10K–$80K
- By dollars: California 82%, District of Columbia 12%, Illinois 6%. Top recipient cities: Oakland, CA; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA.
- 0% of grants with a stated purpose were for general or operating support.
- 29% of recipients were new grantees, not repeat recipients.
Example grants
For the People · Oakland, CA
Legal fellowship
$80K
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area · San Francisco, CA
Legal fellowship
$80K
Equal Justice Works · Washington, DC
Legal fellowship
$42K
American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education · Chicago, IL
Legal empowerment fund
$40K
California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice · Oakland, CA
Legal empowerment fund
$40K
Focus Areas & Funding Uses
Fields of Work
- Nonprofits
- Capacity building
- Social justice
- Human rights
Categories
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