About Children's Defense Fund
Children’s Defense Fund builds community so young people grow up with dignity, hope, and joy.
Focus Areas
children's healthearly learning and developmenteducation for civic life and workfamily stability and economic mobilitychild welfare and youth justiceliteracy and leadership developmentcommunity organizing and faith-based engagementresearch and public policy
Funding Style
program supportprogram-restricted grantsproject-level funding
Topics
About Children's Defense Fund
Children’s Defense Fund’s grantmaking is anchored in recurring support for national and local organizations that work on children’s health, early learning, education, family stability, and youth justice. The largest recent award in the data is $1,414,666 to National League of Cities Institute for program supports, alongside repeated seven-figure support to New Yorkers for Children and Save the Children Federation Inc. That pattern points to a funder that backs established intermediaries as well as issue-specific partners over multiple years. The foundation also gives at a level that often supports sustained work rather than one-off project bursts. Recent grants include repeated awards to Unidosus, The Center for the Study of Social Policy, Start Early, and The James B Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy Foundatio across 2024 and 2025. Its active program list adds another layer: Children’s Defense Fund runs or sponsors initiatives such as CDF Freedom Schools®, the Black Student Leadership Network Fellowship and Ambassador Program, and CDF in the States state-level work in Minnesota. Together, those signals show a funder focused on children’s well-being through policy, organizing, literacy, and leadership development.
What Children's Defense Fund Funds
In child health and policy work, Children’s Defense Fund gave $1,414,666 to National League of Cities Institute for program supports, and $1,020,000 to Unidosus for program supports. Those grants sit alongside state-level work through CDF in the States, including the CDF-MN Child Health initiative in Minnesota. Education and early learning also appear prominently. The foundation gave $648,000 to Start Early for program supports, and repeated support to The James B Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy Foundatio for program supports in 2024 and 2025. Youth justice and family support show up in grants to The Anti-recidivism Coalition in Los Angeles and The Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, DC. The recent grant record also includes New Yorkers for Children for program supports, linking child welfare to place-based services.
How Children's Defense Fund Gives
Children’s Defense Fund’s typical grant size is $17,000 at the 25th percentile, $39,000 at the median, and $129,209 at the 75th percentile. The recent record shows both mid-sized awards and repeated large program-support grants, suggesting a layered grantmaking approach. Several recipients appear in multiple years, including New Yorkers for Children, Save the Children Federation Inc, Unidosus, Start Early, The Center for the Study of Social Policy, The James B Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy Foundatio, The Connie Rice Institute for Urban Peace, Arts for Healing and Justice, and The Anti-recidivism Coalition. The foundation is classified as a Pure DAF Provider, and the grants shown are program supports or program-restricted/project-level funding.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$13.3M
Total Assets
$40.1M
Total Revenue
$24M
Total Expenses
$34.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $17K and $129K, with a median of $39K.
25th Percentile
$17K
Median
$39K
75th Percentile
$129K
Geographic Reach
National19 states funded
About 8% of grants go to recipients in TX.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
STARSKY WILSON
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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