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← DISABILITY RIGHTS EDUCATION AND DEFENSE FUND INC

Form 990 for tax year 2023

Filed by DISABILITY RIGHTS EDUCATION AND DEFENSE FUND INC.

Totals

Total revenue
$3,320,772
Total expenses
$3,700,151
Contributions and grants received
$2,888,579
Grants paid
$37,350
Program service revenue
$258,421
Investment income
$174,749
Other revenue
-$977
Total assets, end of year
$4,803,570
Total liabilities, end of year
$919,110
Net assets or fund balances, end of year
$3,884,460
Program services expenses (Part IX)
$2,944,278
Management and general expenses
$523,364
Fundraising expenses
$232,509
Program service expenses (Part III)
$2,944,278

Program services were 79.6% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Revenue

Part VIII, the statement of revenue.

  • 1c · Fundraising events

    $55,558

  • 1e · Government grants (contributions)

    $1,816,295

  • 1f · All other contributions, gifts and grants

    $1,016,726

  • 2a · Program service revenue: Legal Fees

    total $229,342 · related or exempt $229,342

  • 2b · Program service revenue: Training & publications

    total $29,079 · related or exempt $29,079

  • 3 · Investment income

    total $174,749 · excluded $174,749

  • 4 · Income from investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds

    total $0

  • 5 · Royalties

    total $0

  • 6d · Net rental income or loss

    total $0

  • 7d · Net gain or loss

    total $0

  • 8a · Fundraising events: gross income

    $13,800

  • 8a · Fundraising events: contributions included on line 1c

    $55,558

  • 8b · Fundraising events: direct expenses

    $16,287

  • 8c · Net income from fundraising events

    total -$2,487 · excluded -$2,487

  • 9c · Net income from gaming

    total $0

  • 10c · Net income from sales of inventory

    total $0

  • 11a · Other revenue: Other

    total $1,510 · excluded $1,510

  • 11e · Other revenue, total

    $1,510

Functional expenses

Part IX, the statement of functional expenses.

  • 1 · Grants to domestic organizations and governments

    total $0

  • 2 · Grants to domestic individuals

    total $37,350 · program services $37,350

  • 3 · Grants to foreign organizations and individuals

    total $0

  • 4 · Benefits paid to or for members

    total $0

  • 5 · Compensation of officers, directors and key employees

    total $275,897 · program services $170,686 · management and general $96,934 · fundraising $8,277

  • 6 · Compensation of disqualified persons

    total $90,990 · program services $90,990

  • 7 · Other salaries and wages

    total $2,011,126 · program services $1,782,776 · management and general $80,961 · fundraising $147,389

  • 8 · Pension plan contributions

    total $127,880 · program services $119,726 · management and general $6,777 · fundraising $1,377

  • 9 · Other employee benefits

    total $227,297 · program services $191,348 · management and general $32,383 · fundraising $3,566

  • 10 · Payroll taxes

    total $176,030 · program services $154,414 · management and general $10,772 · fundraising $10,844

  • 11a · Fees: management

    total $0

  • 11b · Fees: legal

    total $0

  • 11c · Fees: accounting

    total $59,441 · management and general $59,441

  • 11d · Fees: lobbying

    total $0

  • 11e · Fees: professional fundraising services

    total $0

  • 11f · Fees: investment management

    total $0

  • 11g · Fees: other

    total $286,395 · program services $99,682 · management and general $178,408 · fundraising $8,305

  • 12 · Advertising and promotion

    total $33,888 · program services $32,538 · management and general $150 · fundraising $1,200

  • 13 · Office expenses

    total $56,765 · program services $29,760 · management and general $17,898 · fundraising $9,107

  • 14 · Information technology

    total $33,012 · program services $19,988 · management and general $5,680 · fundraising $7,344

  • 15 · Royalties

    total $0

  • 16 · Occupancy

    total $160,273 · program services $139,850 · management and general $10,444 · fundraising $9,979

  • 17 · Travel

    total $39,730 · program services $37,964 · management and general $179 · fundraising $1,587

  • 18 · Travel or entertainment for public officials

    total $0

  • 19 · Conferences, conventions and meetings

    total $5,585 · program services $4,486 · management and general $1,099

  • 20 · Interest

    total $0

  • 21 · Payments to affiliates

    total $0

  • 22 · Depreciation, depletion and amortization

    total $21,000 · management and general $21,000

  • 23 · Insurance

    total $14,136 · program services $13,053 · management and general $555 · fundraising $528

  • 24a · Other expenses: Other expenses

    total $33,777 · program services $10,784 · fundraising $22,993

  • 24b · Other expenses: Dues & fees

    total $9,579 · program services $8,883 · management and general $683 · fundraising $13

  • 24e · All other expenses

    total $0

Balance sheet

Part X, book values.

  • 1 · Cash, non-interest-bearing

    beginning of year $933,840 · end of year $407,467

  • 2 · Savings and temporary cash investments

    end of year $0

  • 3 · Pledges and grants receivable

    beginning of year $3,331 · end of year $380,059

  • 4 · Accounts receivable

    beginning of year $188,960 · end of year $37,388

  • 5 · Loans and receivables from officers and key people

    end of year $0

  • 6 · Loans and receivables from disqualified persons

    end of year $0

  • 7 · Other notes and loans receivable

    end of year $0

  • 8 · Inventories for sale or use

    end of year $0

  • 9 · Prepaid expenses and deferred charges

    beginning of year $29,962 · end of year $38,437

  • 10a · Land, buildings and equipment: cost or other basis

    $63,000

  • 10b · Land, buildings and equipment: accumulated depreciation

    $21,000

  • 10c · Land, buildings and equipment, net

    beginning of year $45,000 · end of year $42,000

  • 11 · Investments: publicly traded securities

    beginning of year $3,502,450 · end of year $3,468,950

  • 12 · Investments: other securities

    end of year $0

  • 13 · Investments: program-related

    end of year $0

  • 14 · Intangible assets

    end of year $0

  • 15 · Other assets

    beginning of year $491,809 · end of year $429,269

  • 17 · Accounts payable and accrued expenses

    beginning of year $210,061 · end of year $223,116

  • 19 · Deferred revenue

    beginning of year $114,376 · end of year $68,325

  • 25 · Other liabilities

    beginning of year $607,076 · end of year $627,669

  • 27 · Net assets without donor restrictions

    beginning of year $3,047,773 · end of year $2,955,634

  • 28 · Net assets with donor restrictions

    beginning of year $1,216,066 · end of year $928,826

Mission and programs · 2023

Mission

To advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities through legal advocacy, training, education, and public policy and legislative development.

  • Legal Advocacy - DREDF litigates cases that increase civil rights and civil liberties for persons with disabilities, and represents the disability community in legislative, policy, amicus, and appellate work. In 2024, DREDF settled its years-long case against the State of California and Pittsburg Unified School District (PUSD) alleging that PUSD has maintained a separate, unequal, and illegal educational system where Black students, children of color with disabilities, and English learners have been segregated in substandard learning environments, excluded from classrooms altogether through the use of unwarranted suspensions and expulsions, and as a result, denied their constitutional right to a public education. Plaintiffs settlement with the State requires stronger monitoring and oversight of school districts to prevent systemic discrimination against Black students, students with disabilities, and English learners, including a hotline for receiving complaints of discriminatory discipline. Plaintiffs settlement with the District requires that it work with nationally recognized experts to evaluate and address deficiencies in the Districts special education literacy curriculum and discipline system. This settlement represents the first of its kind to address the unique literacy needs of disabled students who are also English learners. Also in 2024, DREDF secured an historic permanent injunction in C.B. v. Moreno Valley Unified School District et al., requiring the District to reduce its reliance on school police and security officers to respond to students with disabilities. Plaintiff C.B., a Black child with disabilities, filed a lawsuit against the District after, at the age of ten and weighing hardly 70 pounds, he was repeatedly tackled, handcuffed, taken into custody, and then referred to law enforcement for exhibiting disability-related behaviors at school. The injunction follows the Courts October 13, 2023, Order finding that the District maintained a discriminatory campus security program that disproportionately removed, restrained, and referred disabled and Black disabled students to law enforcement in violation of federal law. For example, during the 2019-20 school year, Black disabled students were 3.63 times more likely to be referred to law enforcement than their non- disabled peers. DREDF and co-counsel also prevailed in a novel arbitration brought against Kaiser on behalf of a disabled client who needed a new wheelchair. The clients qualified health plan regulated by the Affordable Care Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act capped coverage for a medically necessary wheelchair at $2,000; our client needed a $15,000 wheelchair. The arbitrator ruled that the denial violated disability nondiscrimination laws including Section 504. No tribunal had previously ruled that a health care insurer must provide coverage for a medically necessary wheelchair to comply with its obligations under federal and state nondiscrimination laws. As an IOLTA Support Center, DREDF provided significant legal training, legal technical assistance, and advocacy support to California IOLTA legal services programs on disability civil rights. We conducted statewide trainings for legal aid attorneys on the rights of disabled people, examining common disability access barriers, housing rights, and disabled students educational rights. Examples of our trainings focusing on housing rights can be found at https://dredf.org/public-policy/housing/.

    Expenses $1,544,966 · Grants $17,200 · Revenue $237,563

  • Child and Family Advocacy - DREDF provides technical assistance and training on the rights of families and children with disabilities in special education to parents, advocates and professionals. In 2024, our education advocates made 784 contacts to families across 30 counties in Northern California, directly helping parents navigate the special education system and learn their rights in the IEP process. DREDF's education advocates also presented 35 trainings and conducted outreach at 12 events across Northern California. The topics of the trainings ranged from supporting foster youth in special education, supporting tribal children with IEPs, learning the basics of special education rights and the IEP process, and supporting related professionals as experts in the IEP process. The education advocates also attended several county fairs and resource fairs aimed at special education families to increase awareness of DREDF's resources and support for families across Northern California who seek assistance in understanding their rights under special education law.

    Expenses $523,351 · Grants $550

  • National Disability Policy and Research - DREDF conducts research, monitors public policy development and provides technical assistance on issues affecting the civil and human rights of people with disabilities and advocates for the rights of people with disabilities. In 2024, DREDF wrote and published a number of important papers looking at topics that affect the disability community. These papers included an examination of how the growing movement toward social housing in the US could be fully inclusive of people with disabilities, a report on the importance of capturing demographic disability data can reveal health and other disparities experienced by disabled people, and two first-of-their-kind reports on the impact of private equity and corporate consolidation impacts people with disabilities in terms of education, healthcare, housing, and institutionalization, including imprisonment. We also continued to be involved with advocating for people with disabilities to have full reproductive choice as well as the freedom to marry and build families with those they love while maintaining access to vital healthcare, community supports, and other disability benefits. Our work on tracking and analyzing the increasingly ubiquitous presence of artificial intelligence (AI) also continues, with a focus on the swift emergence of state bills and laws. Many of these laws emphasize bias testing but still broadly fail to recognize the basic problem that arises when AI is trained on data that emphasizes "typical" non-disabled bodies, thinking, and reactions, without any required understanding of how legally required reasonable accommodations can change outcomes commonly associated with disability.

    Expenses $517,581 · Grants $19,600 · Revenue $20,858

As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

  • Michelle Uzeta

    Deputy Director

    Total calculated
    $190,915
    From this org
    $157,592
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $33,323
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $157,592
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $15,784
    Nontaxable benefits
    $17,539
    Filer's total
    $190,915

  • Claudia Center

    Legal Director

    Total calculated
    $190,446
    From this org
    $161,745
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $28,701
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $161,745
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $16,970
    Nontaxable benefits
    $11,731
    Filer's total
    $190,446

  • Silvia Yee

    Policy Director

    Total calculated
    $177,415
    From this org
    $135,912
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $41,503
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $135,912
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $13,164
    Nontaxable benefits
    $28,339
    Filer's total
    $177,415

  • Mary Lou Breslin

    Sr. Policy Advisor

    Total calculated
    $165,900
    From this org
    $150,807
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $15,093
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $150,807
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $15,093
    Nontaxable benefits
    not reported
    Filer's total
    $165,900

  • Susan Henderson

    Executive Dir.

    Total calculated
    $158,498
    From this org
    $142,842
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $15,656
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $142,842
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $15,656
    Nontaxable benefits
    not reported
    Filer's total
    $158,498

  • Susan Freundlich

    Development Dir.

    Total calculated
    $138,485
    From this org
    $135,243
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $3,242
    Hours/week
    40

  • Nicole Bohn

    Executive Dir.

    Total calculated
    $119,585
    From this org
    $118,618
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $967
    Hours/week
    40

  • H Stephen Kaye

    President/Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    3 + 1 related

  • Anne Cohen

    Vice-President

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Meriah Nichols

    Treasurer

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1 + 1 related

  • Hari Srinivasan

    Secretary

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Dorene Giacopini

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Aubrie Lee

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Sharon Lewis

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Rain Marshall

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Christina Mills

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Benita Shaw-Ayala

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Answered yes

  • 3 · Compensation committee
  • 3 · Independent compensation consultant
  • 3 · Form 990 of other organizations
  • 3 · Written employment contract
  • 3 · Compensation survey or study
  • 3 · Approval by the board or compensation committee

Answered no

  • 4a · Severance or change-of-control payment
  • 4b · Supplemental nonqualified retirement plan
  • 4c · Equity-based compensation arrangement
  • 5a · Pay contingent on this organization's revenues
  • 5b · Pay contingent on a related organization's revenues
  • 6a · Pay contingent on this organization's net earnings
  • 6b · Pay contingent on a related organization's net earnings
  • 7 · Other non-fixed payments
  • 8 · Paid under the initial-contract exception

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

No itemized grants to organizations on this return.

Related organizations on this return

Schedule R Part II: tax-exempt organizations related to the filer by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

Provenance

Return type
form_990
Tax year
2023
Filed
24 July 2025
IRS schema version
2023v6.0
Source object
202542059349300844

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