American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The Fund for Justice Education FJE was created to support the American Bar Associations ABA law-related and public services education programs.
- Income
- $102.4 million
- Spending
- $100.9 million
- Spent on programs
- 80%
- Reserves
- 1.3 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- government grants, 83%
- Employees
- 745
- Volunteers
- 20,000
- Highest pay
- $807,170, executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Fair: 58 out of 100.
Reserves
10 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 1.3 months of spending.
Debt
16 of 20It owes 23% of what it owns.
Living within its means
12 of 15Income exceeded spending by 1% of income.
Income trend
5 of 15Income fell 13% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1580% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 1 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100.
Independent board
25 of 2543 of 44 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $32.1 million spent. Now entering its fourth decade of operations, ABA ROLI implements legal technical assistance programs in roughly 50 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa, as well as non-region specific Global Programs. Over the course of a given year, ABA ROLI typically implements over 100 distinct programs, often more than one in a given country, most of which are concentrated in one or more of nine subject matter areas 1 Access to Justice 2 Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity 3 Criminal Justice and Transnational Organized Crime 4 Judicial System Strengthening 5 Legal Education 6 Legal Profession Development 7 Gender and Social Inclusion 8 Commercial Law and 9 Human Rights. As a matter of best practice, the mixture of subject matter areas involved in a particular country Continued on Schedule O During this year, the American Bar Associations Center for Global Programs ABA CGP, which includes both the Rule of Law Initiative ROLI and the Center for Human Rights CHR, implemented over 89 programs in more than 76 countries. With a professional staff and vast network of professional relationships, ROLI institutionalizes rule-of-law across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and the Americas, and CHR supports the human rights defenders, working within the corresponding legal institutions. As a pioneer in the provision of access to justice and the protection of human rights around the world, ABA CGP has implemented more than 1,000 initiatives to help advance the rule of law and human rights in over 100 countries in the past three decades. In the process, the ABA has deployed nearly 450 million in pro bono assistance worldwide to strengthen judicial systems and advance legal reforms. ABA CGP is a brand ambassador for the American legal profession. In Africa, ABA ROLI has been actively promoting access to justice and integrated services for vulnerable populations and survivors of sexual and gender based violence advancing human rights and justice with a focus on environmental protection, womens economic rights, and indigenous peoples rights using early warning systems to prevent atrocities against civilians strengthening the formal and customary justice sectors countering trafficking in persons strengthening corrections institutions and special criminal courts developing and reforming legal frameworks and scholarship enhancing protection of freedom of expression, assembly, and the civic space as well as related fundamental rights and building the capacity of local civil society organizations to be active participants in promoting the rule of law. In Asia, ABA ROLIs programs have focused predominantly on increasing access to justice for vulnerable populations, combating trafficking in persons, criminal law reform, transitional justice, anti-money laundering and anti-corruption efforts, strengthening human rights protections, and climate justice and religious/ethnic freedoms. New programming will address data privacy and internet freedom through a regional program. In Europe and Eurasia, ABA ROLIs activities include developing a legal climate for businesses that increases confidence and spurs international investment, supporting local partners to advocate for Internet freedom in the face of government surveillance, digital security threats and loss of privacy promoting human rights and access to justice supporting civil society improving legal education, with the help of the latest technology combating money laundering and corruption by supporting relevant state agencies and advancing the professionalism of the judiciary, prosecutorial services, and the bar. In Latin America and the Caribbean, ABA ROLI continues to support the criminal justice system, especially in handling complex crimes, such as money laundering, narcotrafficking, countering terrorism financing, wildlife trafficking, human trafficking, illegal mining, and gender-based violence. We also promote access to justice and human rights among civil society organizations and support judicial institutions and law schools to strengthen their skills on oral trial litigation and alternative dispute resolution. In the Middle East and North Africa, ABA ROLI focuses on reform and strengthening of judicial and legal profession, expanding alternatives to incarceration, combating trafficking in persons and gender-based violence, anti-money laundering efforts, protecting human rights defenders, combatting hate speech and disinformation, and supporting community dialogue, reconciliation processes, to advance transitional justice efforts.
- $28.5 million spent. Since 1983, the ABA has prioritized immigration law and policy as one of its core public service efforts. The ABA Commission on Immigration COI directs the Associations efforts to ensure fair treatment and full due process rights for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers within the United States. The Commission manages six core operational activities 1 Commission and Advisory Committee member activities, 2 Detention Information Hotline, 3 direct legal services through the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project ProBAR in Harlingen, Texas, and Houston, Texas, 4 direct legal services through the Immigration Justice Project IJP in San Diego, California, 5 training and technical legal assistance through the Childrens Immigration Law Academy CILA in Houston, Texas and, 6 the Commissions national policy, advocacy, training, and pro bono work. Continued on Schedule O Since 1983, the ABA has prioritized immigration law and policy as one of its core public service efforts. The ABA Commission on Immigration COI directs the Associations efforts to ensure fair treatment and due process rights for immigrants and asylum-seekers within the United States. The Commission manages six core operational activities 1 Commission and Advisory Committee member activities 2 Detention Information Hotline 3 direct legal services through the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project ProBAR in Harlingen, Texas, and Houston, Texas 4 direct legal services through the Immigration Justice Project IJP in San Diego, California 5 training and technical assistance through the Childrens Immigration Law Academy CILA in Houston, Texas and 6 the Commissions national policy, advocacy, training, and pro bono work. The Commission focuses on immigration practice and policy by working with its Commission and Advisory Committee members in the development of legal resources and practitioner guides, engaging in advocacy with executive agencies and Congress, offering both CLE and non-CLE programming, providing speakers for local and national conferences, and organizing national convenings and working groups for legal service providers of unaccompanied immigrant children, and more. One example of a resource development over the past year is the Commissions Border Primer, updated in March 2025. Each year, thousands of migrants seeking refuge and opportunity in the U.S. are detained by the federal government. These children, adults, and families hail from all over the world, but many come from Central and South America, and have entered the U.S. at the southern border. Language barriers, a lack of familiarity with U.S. law and court procedures and limited financial resources present formidable obstacles to understanding the immigration system and determining if someone is eligible to apply for relief from deportation. Some migrants qualify for humanitarian protection such as asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile status, U and T visas, and other forms of relief. ABA staff at COI National, ProBAR and IJP offer legal information, limited legal advice, pro se assistance and direct representation to those who find themselves in immigration proceedings. These services give migrants a chance to understand whether they qualify to apply for legal relief and if not, the options for returning to their countries of origin. For others, it may lead to a process to gain safety and stability in the United States. The ABA Commission on Immigration recently launched the Safe City Baltimore Legal Screening Hotline which serves as a centralized access point for noncitizens in Baltimore City, Maryland, to obtain information, pro se services, and referrals to legal service providers for assistance with their immigration cases. Volunteers help conduct virtual intakes and legal screenings for noncitizens and gather essential information to support follow-up assistance. The funding allows the Commission to build a replicable and scalable model that can be used by other jurisdictions that want a centralized intake hub with referrals to participating legal service providers. So far, nine individuals have been referred for representation to Baltimore-area legal service providers. The Commission also runs a Detention Information Hotline that provides crucial information to those detained by ICE about how the immigration court system works, the fear screening process, various forms of immigration relief, and legal resources available in a callers area. The Commission answers the Information Hotline calls through a combination of staff and experienced immigration attorney volunteers. The Commission also manages the UNHCR Washington, D.C.asylum seeker detention hotline in conjunction with UNHCR staff. In 2025, the immigration hotline staff and volunteers answered 2,010 calls from people in detention centers across the country. In 2025, ProBAR provided Know Your Rights KYR presentations to 1,992 unaccompanied immigrant children and completed individual legal screenings of 2,314 unaccompanied children. Throughout 2025, ProBARs new field office in Houston, Texas, expanded to better provide continued representation to the many unaccompanied children who relocate to and remain in the Houston area. In August 2025, ProBAR incorporated five additional Corpus Christi youth shelters into its Unaccompanied Childrens Program contract. On August 7, ProBAR formally began providing KYR presentations and legal screenings at the five facilities within the region. These facilities include three detention centers and two long-term foster care facilities. This expansion continues to enhance ProBARs delivery of services in Texas, now including the Rio Grande Valley, Houston, and Corpus Christi. ProBAR continued its commitment to empowering and supporting the local community by establishing a Community KYR Program. These sessions are designed to inform, empower, and uplift the Rio Grande Valley community. ProBAR legal advocates educate individuals on their legal rights and
- $5.9 million spent. The ABA Center on Children and the Laws mission is to promote access to justice for children and families. Our staff of 21 legal and core professionals work on grant-funded projects across the country that are unified by two complementary goals, to improve legal representation and to improve the legal systems that impact children and families lives. We achieve our mission and goals through a three-tiered approach. First, the Center works in individual communities across the country where it partners with local stakeholders-including courts, child welfare agencies, lawyers, tribes, schools, and legislators-to build the capacity of legal practices and systems that serve children well and to help change those that do not. Continued on Schedule O Second, informed by that local work and by our position within a large professional association, the Center collaborates with other national organizations to provide influential guidance on legal programs and policy reforms that affect child and family well-being on a national level. Finally, the Center serves as a centralized resource for the childrens law field by building professional networks, convening meetings and conferences, developing practice standards, analyzing case law and legislation, and creating training materials for attorneys, judges and advocates throughout the country. Each of these project areas is funded externally through federal, state, and private philanthropic grants. We have a portfolio of 20 to 25 active grants at any given time, amounting to a total of about 5.7 million in domestic grant revenue per year. Some examples of the Centers work include Court Projects. The Center improves court systems serving children and families in the child welfare system by consulting with State Court Improvement Programs, collaborating with national judicial organizations, and working with state and local courts. The largest program within this project area is the Capacity Building Center for Courts CBCC, which is a partnership of the ABA Center on Children and the Law, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the National Association of Counsel for Children. The CBCC team seeks to improve child safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for families by ensuring courts work in partnership with child welfare agencies to best serve children and families in all fifty states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands. Permanency Barriers. The ABA Permanency Barriers Project has one overarching goal to reduce unnecessary time children spend in foster care before achieving permanency. To date, the ABA Permanency Barriers Project has served 57 counties in four states and has successfully reduced the time children spend in foster care by an average of nine months, realizing a positive impact on more than 3,000 childrens cases, and saving counties and states more than 35 million in foster care costs. State courts and child welfare agencies fund this project. Education Projects. In collaboration with the Education Law Center and the Juvenile Law Center, the ABA formed the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education in 2007 to provide national advocacy on policy matters affecting the education of children in foster care. Staff from the ABA have led efforts in jurisdictions across the U.S. to convene child welfare agencies, local school district leadership and judges together to plan for and implement supports that allow children in foster care to maintain access to the same school despite changes in home placement. The Legal Centers work helped pass critical federal legislation in 2015 requiring state child welfare agencies and school systems to work together to keep children in foster care in the same school when home placements change. Since that law passed, we have been working closely with states across the country to implement the federal law. Kin and Relative Caregiver Projects. In partnership with the Childrens Defense Fund and Generations United, the Center manages several projects related to kinship care, including Grandfamilies and the Legal Impact Network for Kin LINK. Grandfamilies provides legal resources for kin who care for children within and outside the child welfare system, and to professionals who serve kin as attorneys and policy advocates. We also work directly with state and local organizations to provide assistance on legal analysis of state kinship laws and policies, including compliance with federal laws such as the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. LINK is a network of attorneys who represent kin in legal proceedings and support a kin first approach to child placement decisions, ensuring that when children cannot live with their parents they live with or remain closely connected to other relatives and family. This project area is funded through several distinct private philanthropic partners.
- Program Service Expenses 13,988,917, Grants and allocations 8,820,447, Revenue 2,459,952 FJE supports several other programs including Center for Public Interest Law. The Center puts the ABA motto of Defending Liberty, Pursuing Justice into action through advocacy, education, and initiatives implemented across the country. With staff and members leading efforts related to children and families, death penalty representation, domestic and gender-based violence, elder law, election law, gun violence, homelessness and poverty, immigration, veterans, and pro bono projects, the Center is the gateway to resources to support and amplify efforts as well as to connect other lawyers who share the passion to improve systems and change lives.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending August 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since July 1963.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
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