Annual Report 2026

The United States faces a crisis of democracy. This is a rare point of consensus between working people and the political pundit class. A corrupt campaign finance system has led to the rise of an oligarchical class that hordes an incomprehensible cache of resources. Much of this wealth has been gained through an unwieldy network of largely untested and unregulated economies: data markets, mass surveillance, for-profit human detention, and financialization of public assets. 

In many ways Virginia has become ground zero for this crisis. The global capital of the data center boom, Virginia has built its economy on those centers of wealth that bet against a free and just society for everyday working people. Everywhere Virginians see their farmland, forests, and drinkable water lost to the very data brokers that track their movements and rig their elections. A tightly woven network of digital surveillance hubs tracks their movements. This system leaves working families vulnerable to harassment, arrest, and indefinite detainment. 

Throughout US history, civil rights movements have fought back through two critical levers of power: community organizing and legal strategy. Virginia has seen a powerful and moving resurgence of the former. Unions are growing and building power in a state long hindered by restrictive anti-worker policies. Educators and students have mobilized to protect free speech in the classroom. Tenants are forming unions to build power against abusive corporate landlords. Communities are defeating new data centers across the commonwealth. 

The Richmond Community Legal Fund was founded by community organizers who saw an urgent need to complement this new wave of civic action with resources to expand legal strategy. We believed that a community bank of resources could narrow the justice gap by connecting working families with skilled attorneys and arming the broader public with knowledge of their rights in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities. 

Over the past year and a half, the response has been extraordinary. Our community has acted quickly to allocate funds for legal defense. Educators, parents, healthcare providers, and tenants have mobilized to host Know Your Rights trainings and Legal Clinics. Everyday residents have stepped up to show solidarity with their immigrant neighbors. Since our launch we have seen first hand what solidarity looks like in action. It is a powerful thing.

When we look at what is happening in our community, we know our moment is not defined by a small number of people who hoard wealth and power. It is defined by the masses of people who have stepped forward in acts of selfless resistance that refuse to accept a world defined by deprivation, injustice, and fear. Whether we look at Minneapolis, Los Angeles, or Richmond—we can see that this moment belongs to the resistance. It belongs to the people who are standing up, fighting back, and winning. 

The team at the Richmond Community Legal Fund is just one small part of a growing tide that hopes to lift up all of us. We are proud to fight alongside you. 

Solidarity forever.

Legal Aid

RCLF raises funds for community members that are seeking legal support in areas not covered or not able to be covered because of lack of funding by traditional legal aid organizations. We work with legal aid organizations and local attorneys to connect clients to services and support their legal needs. 

Mutual Aid

RCLF supports clients in need with living expenses related to the impacts from litigation. This often includes support for rent, transportation, utilities, food, childcare, healthcare, etc. We offer support for living expenses so they may continue to focus on litigation. Our bond payment and release team offers sanctuary spaces for individuals who have been released from detention and are awaiting family pickup. That team also offers rides transporting Farmville detainees to Richmond and beyond. 

Training & Education

RCLF offers free training to any members of our community who wish to better understand their rights regarding free speech, organizing activity, immigration status, and labor issues. This includes training for public sector and health care workers who wish to expand sanctuary spaces in their  workplace. RCLF volunteers also offer legal clinics where families and individuals can receive direct, specialist guidance on critical issues such as standby guardianship of minors. 

Outreach & Engagement

Our legal fund is aimed at systemic, lasting change. As such we dedicate a substantial portion of our efforts toward supporting changing narratives about justice in our community. This includes distribution of solidarity yard and business signs across the state, allowing neighbors and small businesses to communicate their support for immigrants and mixed-status families during a period of federally-supported anti-immigrant sentiment. Our outreach team has also communicated our shared fight for a just Virginia with members of the public through community events, tabling, small business, and arts community fundraisers. 

Calculating Our Total Impact: 

Here is what we we can say about one twelve month window in the life of our organization: For the period spanning 9/1/2025-8/31/2026 the Richmond Community Legal Fund: 

• distributed $329,081.13 in legal support to Virginians in need, including $50,000 in bond payments to secure the release of individuals directly abducted in ICE raids;

• distributed $59,728.08 in household stabilization funds to Virginians in need;

• hosted 34 know your rights trainings and 26 legal clinics for a wide range of participants, including public school educators, public health professionals, and faith communities; 

• dedicated over 160 hours connecting with our community by hosting speakers at  panels and rallies, attending community fundraisers, and tabling at events.

We are incredibly proud of this work, which is a miracle of collective solidarity across not just one city, but a statewide network of individuals who put justice and care over division and fear. We also know that while our team can measure the scope of its work over a twelve month period, there is no metric for calculating the broader impact of securing the release of even one detainee, paying one month’s rent, or training one worker to better understand their rights in a landscape of rising authoritarianism. We are immensely indebted to our donors for every dollar contributed to this work, to every volunteer for the yard signs they deliver or the trainings they host. 

Out of necessity and political trend the work of the Richmond Community Legal Fund from 2025-2026 has focused directly on mitigating the devastating impact of ICE raids on Virginia’s capital region. While the focus of our work is not solely targeted on immigration support, we have been immensely proud to see how quickly and deftly our Board volunteers, and community have jumped into action to meet the emergent need created by accelerated crackdowns at the federal level. Moving forward, RCLF’s core team has identified areas of growth that we believe will become critical for shifting the balance of power in the years to come: 

• Free speech - Expanded first amendment support for both our community at large and members of the media who cover their daily lives. We believe support of individual journalists is critical for a free and independent press. We know that free speech, the right to protest, and the right to teach truthful and just content in the classroom are growing battlefields; we plan to expand our ability to fight productively in those areas. 

• Right to privacy - The surveillance industry has successfully colonized the state, leveraging public funds to violate privacy rights for everyday people. This has not only misappropriated public resources like taxes, it has expanded the reach of those areas of the state that no longer clearly serve public benefit, like the carceral and immigration systems. Protecting the right to privacy for individuals is paramount, as is defending acts of protest done in defense of privacy.

• Labor rights - As union activity increases across the commonwealth, we know workers need protection both to protest freely and also to organize unions that represent their interests. Newly formed worker organizations are often vulnerable to mass firings and other forms of retaliation; we plan to support them if and when this occurs.

• Governmental Transparency - The rapidly expanding use of NDAs by governmental agencies to hide development deals from the public is a legal issue that threatens democratic process and the safety of our communities from land water air and noise pollution. We believe legal challenges to secrecy are critical, as is the establishment of a FOIA fund to cover costs for residents attempting to access information that should be freely accessible. We hope to establish a FOIA fund to offset these costs and increase transparency. 

The work ahead depends on the continued buy-in of our volunteers, our donors, and our surrounding community. A more just world for working people must, out of necessity, be built by those people. RCLF is committed to shepherding our part of that work forward, in concert with our neighbors.

Expenses 

RCLF maintains a very high percentage of donations that go directly to the services provided to our clients. For every $1 donated, $0.96 goes to providing legal and mutual aid services to the community!

• Mutual Aid Total: $59,728.08 [14.82%]

• Legal Aid Total: $329,081.13 [81.68%]

• Unrestricted Total*: $14,105.56 [3.50%]

• Other Total (refunded payments): [$45,255.07]

Total Expenditures: $402,914.77

*Unrestricted funds are used for the basic administration of the organization: hosting our website, printing signs, sending mailers, renting a PO box, etc.

Revenue

Local, Grassroots support: RCLF boasts a huge amount of local support for our work, with 98% of our revenue sources coming from individual donors and local small businesses. 94% of those individual donors live in Virginia. About 11% of our donors dedicate recurring, monthly donations. RCLF is also proud to be a deeply grassroots organization, with roughly 70% of our donors giving amounts less than $100.

• Donations: $310,018.29

• Fundraisers given on our behalf: $73,990.60

• Blackout Party Fundraiser: $8,044.11

• Merchandise sales: $5,584.00

• Other (refunds & other credit)**: $46,455.07

Total Revenue: $397,637.00

**refunds come from legal agencies when cases are resolved in such a manner that the original payment for legal services is adjusted to a lower amount, or when a client declines to pursue a case.