The National Lawyers Guild Foundation is an affiliate of the National Lawyers Guild, a radical-left nonprofit association of attorneys, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers. Its primary purpose is to provide funding to the National Lawyers Guild’s national office and local chapters, as well as to provide fiscal sponsorship services.
The National Lawyers Guild Foundation (NLG Foundation) is a nonprofit affiliated with the radical-left National Lawyers Guild. One of its primary roles is to make grants to the National Lawyers Guild’s national office, as well as to local Guild chapters and associated organizations. 1
The NLG Foundation operates the Guild Grants program, which “provides small grants to NLG chapters, committees, and projects to promote membership, strengthen programmatic work, and enhance coordination within the Guild.” 2 As of 2021, the maximum grant amount under this program was $7,500. 3
The NLG Foundation also provides fiscal sponsorship services to National Lawyers Guild chapters that do not have their own 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and to other associated organizations. According to the National Lawyers Guild’s website, current or former fiscally-sponsored projects of the NLG Foundation include: 1
National Lawyers Guild New York City Chapter
National Lawyers Guild Chicago
National Lawyers Guild Detroit and Michigan Chapter
National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
Portland National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild
Water Protector Legal Collective
Leadership
The National Lawyers Guild Foundation is governed by a board of directors that includes among its members the president, treasurer, and executive director of the National Lawyers Guild. 1
Bruce Nestor is president of the NLG Foundation. He is an attorney at the law firm of De Leon, Nestor & Torres, specializing in criminal defense and immigration matters. He served as president of the National Lawyers Guild from 2000 to 2003, and is also a former president of the Guild’s Minnesota chapter. He also formerly worked for the Legal Services Corporation of Iowa. 4
Financials
In 2023, the NLG Foundation reported total revenue of $1,085,452 and net assets of $4,671,815, while paying out $807,727 in grants.5 In 2022, it reported $655,517 in total revenue and $4,370,227 in net assets, while paying out $724,152 in grants.6 In 2021, it reported $1,100,197 in total revenue and $5,032,845 in net assets, while paying out $1,063,650 in grants.7 In 2020, it reported $2,881,959 in total revenue and $5,057,849 in net assets, while paying out $2,450,116 in grants.8
In 2019, the NLG Foundation reported total revenue of $726,899 and net assets of $4,468,568, while paying out $909,916 in grants. 9 In 2018, it reported total revenue of $2,513,776 and net assets of $4,485,887, while paying out $998,618 in grants. 10
From 2020 through 2023, the NLG Foundation made a total of $2,723,023 in grants to the National Lawyers Guild‘s national office. During that same period it made a total of $1,664,768 in grants to the Water Protector Legal Collective.11
From 2016 through 2019, the NLG Foundation made a total of $1,264,976 in grants to the National Lawyers Guild’s national office, and a total of $2,039,147 to the Water Protector Legal Collective. During that same period, it gave $95,799 to the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles, $2,666,675 to the National Lawyers Guild New York City Chapter (including $2,622,913 worth of securities transferred to the chapter’s 501(c)(3) affiliate), and $110,520 to the National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area. 12
All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:
Total Grant Value:$7,061,634
Number of Grants:36
Number of Recipients:13
Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:
Amount
Year
Funder
Subject
$1,522,686
2020
National Lawyers Guild Inc
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE NATIONAL OFFICE, WHOSE PRIMARY PURPOSE IS DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$550,666
2024
National Lawyers Guild Inc
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE NATIONAL OFFICE, WHOSE PRIMARY PURPOSE IS DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$479,050
2023
National Lawyers Guild Inc
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE NATIONAL OFFICE, WHOSE PRIMARY PURPOSE IS DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$405,763
2021
National Lawyers Guild Inc
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE NATIONAL OFFICE, WHOSE PRIMARY PURPOSE IS DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$348,825
2022
Water Protector Legal Collective
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE WATER PROTECTOR LEGAL COLLECTIVE, AN ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO PROVIDING LEGAL SUPPORT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING FOR INDIGENOUS CENTERED AND GUIDED ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE MOVEMENTS.
$315,524
2022
National Lawyers Guild Inc
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE NATIONAL OFFICE, WHOSE PRIMARY PURPOSE IS DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$306,349
2020
National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE LOS ANGELES CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$280,134
2023
Water Protector Legal Collective
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE WATER PROTECTOR LEGAL COLLECTIVE, AN ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO PROVIDING LEGAL SUPPORT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING FOR INDIGENOUS CENTERED AND GUIDED ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE MOVEMENTS.
$215,339
2024
Water Protector Legal Collective
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE WATER PROTECTOR LEGAL COLLECTIVE, AN ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO PROVIDING LEGAL SUPPORT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING FOR INDIGENOUS CENTERED AND GUIDED ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE MOVEMENTS.
$50,000
2020
Multiple EUROPE (INCLUDING ICELAND & GREENLAND) Recipients
TO SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON RACIST POLICE VIOLENCE
$29,100
2021
National Lawyers Guild – Sfba Chapter
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
TO SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON RACIST POLICE VIOLENCE
$15,510
2021
National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE LOS ANGELES CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$14,559
2020
National Lawyers Guild – Sfba Chapter
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$14,100
2021
National Lawyers Guild – Detroit
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE DETROIT CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$11,280
2022
National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE LOS ANGELES CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$9,400
2024
National Lawyers Guild – Detroit
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE DETROIT CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$7,500
2023
National Lawyers Guild – Detroit
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE DETROIT CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$7,500
2023
Ohio Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE OHIO CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
$7,500
2022
National Lawyers Guild Massachusetts Chapter Inc
TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, AN ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE NEED FOR BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF OUR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
