PLATINUM2023

Constitutional Rights Foundation

Educate. Engage. Empower.

aka CRF   |   Los Angeles, CA   |  http://www.crf-usa.org

Mission

Constitutional Rights Foundation inspires lifelong civic engagement through interactive programs and resources for teachers and youth because our democracy depends on informed participation by all.

Ruling year info

1993

President

Amanda Susskind

Main address

601 South Kingsley Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90005 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

95-2219680

NTEE code info

Education N.E.C. (B99)

Citizenship Programs, Youth Development (O54)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018.
Register now

Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Today's political climate places extra responsibilities and burdens on teachers to provide
students with an understanding about the Constitution, government, policy making, the political process, and a range of controversial public policy issues facing the nation and our communities, including immigration, the scope and limits of executive power, free speech, press, and assembly, and police authority and practices. It is imperative that these students learn about our governmental institutions, develop high order reading and critical thinking skills to be able to analyze sources of information, particularly those that derive from social media, and become a generation of informed, skilled and engaged citizens.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

CRF Programs

Los Angeles County and California State Mock Trial: 11,000 students annually. In 2020 and 2021, the program has been converted into an entirely online experience.

Expanding Horizons Institute: Workshops on college and career preparation, and civic engagement for first-generation college-bound youth.

CRF’s Civic Action Program (CAP): Project-based learning curriculum for middle and high school government and civics courses.

Teacher Professional Development: CRF provides workshops and trainings for teachers throughout the nation focused on social studies.

Publications: CRF has a large library of free curriculum materials for teachers and students. Over 40,000 educators subscribe to our Bill of Rights in Action curricular publication.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Students

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Average online donation

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of teachers recruited

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

CRF Programs

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Teachers registered on our website to access the Civic Action Project curriculum and resources.

Number of website sessions

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Low-income people, Working poor, Immigrants, People of Latin American descent, People of Asian descent

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

During the pandemic, coinciding with closure of many schools, our website experienced a slight decrease in sessions.

Number of website pageviews

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Ethnic and racial groups, Immigrants, Extremely poor people, Low-income people, Working poor

Related Program

CRF Programs

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

4,107,642 3,835,926 3,626,574

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

CRF's Goals:
1. Provide teachers and students with high-quality curriculum materials, programs, and resources that increase students' civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
2. Use research and evaluation to inform our work.
3. Explore and implement innovations to continue to have a positive impact on teaching and learning, and to expand our impact, both in terms of breadth and depth.

CRF has developed a five-year plan which is guiding our work. Key strategies include embedding educational trends and mandates, such as standards-based education in all of our programs and resources to ensure their usability in schools; to use technology to scale programs; and several key strategies pertaining to Board engagement and fundraising.

CRF's staff of educators, attorneys, and youth advocates are deeply committed to the organization and brings decades of experience to our work. CRF's President, Marshall Croddy, is well-known and trusted in our field, and we welcome partnerships to strengthen the work of civic education. CRF's Board, also deeply committed to the organization, provides leadership and governance to ensure our future.

We have met and exceeded our impact goals in terms of numbers of teachers/students we are serving now. We recently were awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further impact our national network of teachers. We have also received a grant from the Library of Congress to work with another organization on developing lessons using primary documents from the Library of Congress.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    K-12 teachers and students

  • How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

    Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person),

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    We updated lessons for social studies teachers and students with case studies related to COVID-19 issues and policies. We engaged youth leaders to teach other youth on Zoom because students needed to interact with other youth, rather than adults. We regularly engage teachers in developing programs and lessons to get their ideas and feedback about what works for them and their students.

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

    The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,

  • How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

    We have a youth board and listen to and implement their ideas to continuously improve our Civic Actin Project. This empowers them, while at the same time, makes our program stronger!

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive,

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection,

Financials

Constitutional Rights Foundation
lock

Unlock financial insights by subscribing to our monthly plan.

Subscribe

Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more about GuideStar Pro.

Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Constitutional Rights Foundation

Board of directors
as of 03/14/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mr. Darin Beffa

Beffa Law

Term: 2022 - 2024

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 3/14/2022
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/14/2022

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.