CELDF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law. EIN: 25-1760934
CELDF Declares Disruption – 2026 Mid-Year Campaign!
CELDF declares disruption! Our frontline community support is about disrupting corporate power. Our education and training programs are about disrupting false narratives and ineffective organizing. Our movement lawyering is about disrupting unjust law and opening up new legal frontiers for people and ecosystems.
Our 30+ years of truth telling through organizing support, education, and legal services has been about disrupting systemic inequality in order to usher in right-relationship.
Celebrate and support CELDF’s Declaring Disruption Campaign by reading our mid-year impact report and donating to CELDF to help us meet our 50/20 goals! – Raising $50,000 and welcoming 20 new donors.
What Your Support Makes Possible
300+
communities served across the U.S.
30 years
of frontline legal and organizing support
$20M+
in pro bono and low-cost services
500
community inquiries and 150 consultations in 2025 alone
From passing local rights ordinances to challenging corporate control of waterways, CELDF works where the stakes are highest and where communities most need backup.
“CELDF helped our community do something we didn’t think was possible. They didn’t just give us legal advice. They helped us understand our own power.” — Community organizer, Midwest
CELDF’s work has been covered by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Common Dreams, and Native News Online, and featured in documentary films including Invisible Hand (produced by Mark Ruffalo, 2021), Hellbent (2023), and What We Do To Nature, We Do To Ourselves (2024).
One Time Gift
Support CELDF today. Make a one-time contribution to support communities defending their rights, protecting their land, and advancing democratic self-governance.
Monthly Giving
Sustain this work year-round. Become a monthly donor and provide steady support for long-term community defense and legal advocacy.
By Mail
Make checks payable to CELDF and mail to: CELDF, PO Box 360, Mercersburg, PA 17236. Please include your full name and address.
Stocks & Investments
Give appreciated assets. Donate stock or other investments to support CELDF’s mission while potentially receiving tax benefits. Gifts of securities are a powerful way to give without using cash.
Qualified Charitable Deductions (QCDs)
Give through your IRA. If you are 70 ½ or older, you may be able to make a tax-free gift directly from your IRA to CELDF, helping meet required minimum distributions while supporting this work.
Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs)
Give through your donor-advised fund. Recommend a grant to CELDF through Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, Amalgamated Charitable, or another sponsoring organization. Provide your fund sponsor with the following: Legal Name: Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Tax ID/EIN: 25-1760934
Address: PO Box 360, Mercersburg, PA 17236
If you’re retirement age, you can donate up to $105,000 per tax year directly from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to charities like CELDF. Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD), otherwise known as IRA charitable rollovers or IRA gifts, may be excluded from your taxable income and qualify towards your required minimum distribution (RMD) if you don’t want or need the funds.
QCD rules:
- You must be 70 ½ or older at the time of gifting your IRA to charity.
- You may distribute up to $105,000 in a calendar year to one or more public charities, so long as the distribution is completed by December 31 of that year.
- Your IRA administrator must make the distribution directly to the charity, or
- you may write a check to the charity from your IRA checkbook.
Funds withdrawn by you and then contributed do not qualify.
QCD restrictions:
Per IRS regulations, QCDs cannot be made to a donor advised fund (DAF). A QCD can be made to your sponsoring 501(c)(3) organization if there are programs that you can fund outside of your DAF. Such purposes include general support for the charity or for other programs they may maintain outside of their role as a DAF sponsor. For additional information on QCDs and DAFs, please contact your charitable sponsor.
Making a QCD/IRA charitable distribution to CELDF:
- Contact your IRA administrator and instruct that person to transfer funds to CELDF. Your financial institution should make the check out to “CELDF” and identify you as the donor by name and address.
- Ask your IRA administrator to include your full name and mailing address on the gift.
- Ask your administrator to note that the transfer is an IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution. We do not encourage restricted gifts.
Have more questions?
Common types of planned gifts:
- Bequests: Donate cash and/or securities through your will, now or later, by naming CELDF as your beneficiary.
- Beneficiary Designations: Donate life insurance and retirement plan gifts (IRAs and 401Ks) to CELDF as the beneficiary. Please talk to your attorney or financial planner to determine what works best for you and your family.
Naming CELDF in your will:
Legal name: Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF)
Address: PO Box 360, 10914 Clay Lick Road, Mercersburg, PA 17236
Federal tax ID#: 25-1760934
Notification: Let us know when you have named CELDF in your will or trust so that we can thank you and include you in our Legacy Society.
Sample language for your will:
“I give and bequeath to the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), PO Box 360, 10914 Clay Lick Road, Mercersburg, PA 17236 [the sum of __________ Dollars ($____)] [ _______ % of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate], to be used for its general charitable purposes.”
Have more questions?
Support CELDF Today.
If you would like to give anonymously, please email info@celdf.org with “Anonymous Donation” in the subject line.
