Environmental and Animal Defense
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
At Environmental and Animal Defense, our mission is to provide Colorado with access to affordable legal services for environmental and animal issues, in addition to protecting wildlife and their habitats through enforcement of the law. No matter whether they live in homes, on farms, or in the wild, we give a voice to animals through their human counterparts by providing affordable legal representation. We believe all communities have a right to a healthy environment and work to maintain and improve those places that are homes to our communities and our wildlife. We work for a better future for your family, for your community, for your world.
- Income
- $95,158
- Spending
- $75,693
- Reserves
- 5 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 100%
- Highest pay
- $32,000, executive director
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 79 out of 100. Higher than 54% of charities in its peer group (crime and legal services, under $250k).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 5.0 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 20% of income.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 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 (2)
- $41,839 spent. Environmental and Animal Defense fulfills its mission to provide relief to the poor, underprivileged and undeserved members of Colorado's community by addressing a priority of the Colorado Bar Association (CBA Executive Council and CBA Board of Governors) as recently reported to the Colorado Access to Justice Commission: [e]xplor[ing] ways lawyers can provide legal assistance and representation to low and middle income Coloradans, including limited scope representation and modest means representation.
- $33,855 spent. While litigation is an essential part of protecting the environment for the public benefit and the prevention of cruelty to animals through the realistic development of an enforceable body of environmental and animal law through enforcement of existing statutes, regulations and common law principles, many issues are usually overlooked. With scarce availability of resources to devote, many nonprofit public interest litigation organizations focus heavily or exclusively on large national issues that whose litigation creates the largest impact. This often results in less popular, smaller, or nonnational issues concerning individual animals being overlooked by other nonprofits. While foundation, indicator, keystone, or other types of critical or important species to ecosystems probably should be prioritized, Environmental and Animal Defense thinks that every species and each animal should be preserved for the public benefit and each individual animal protected from cruelty. Protecting livestock from cruelty by litigating against a state agency that promulgates regulations that allow cruelty in violation of an authorizing statute certainly prevents cruelty to many animals, but protecting a single canine unlawfully seized to be euthanized also aids in the prevention of cruelty to animals. The same way public interest litigation serves civil rights by defending them in broad strokes in national and historic litigation and through individual defense of those rights, environmental protection and the prevention of cruelty to animals benefits from both large and small issues. The need for this a nonprofit for these public services is demonstrated by the absence of these services by national nonprofits and other organizations. In fact, part of the inspiration to form Environmental and Animal Defense came out of a legal need by a Denver Metropolitan Area animal shelter. A woman who was fostering a dog for this animal shelter refused to return the dog to the shelter when it became ill for medical treatment. The shelter attempted to hire an attorney, but could not afford the quoted cost to recover the dog from the woman who unlawfully kept it in her possession. The shelter, worried that the dog would die without legal intervention quickly, reached out for legal assistance to the only other available source, social media. The founders of Environmental and Animal Defense responded and shortly thereafter the dog was returned to the animal shelter for medical treatment. There was no other organization available to the animal shelter to provide legal services to prevent the cruelty to this dog through failing to provide medical treatment. Very few groups rarely take on these types of cases unless it is to set precedent for larger national impact.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 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 December 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 2018.
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.
Could it be confused with another charity? Worth knowing.
A much larger organization has a similar name: Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated (New York, NY), EIN 11-6107128. If that is the one you meant, check the EIN before giving.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.