Corporate Entities of the ACLU of Southern California

The ACLU of Southern California is comprised of three separate corporate entities:

• American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California;
• ACLU Foundation of Southern California;
• ACLU Foundation of Southern California, LLC.

All are part of the same overall organization, but it is necessary that the ACLU of Southern California have three separate organizations in order to do a broad range of work in protecting civil liberties. This website collectively refers to the three organizations under the names:

• ACLU of Southern California
• ACLU/SC

Real estate owned by the ACLU/SC operates under the third corporate entity, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, LLC.

Although there is some overlap in the work done by each organization, certain activities the ACLU of Southern California does to protect civil liberties must be done by one organization and not the other. This is primarily in the area of lobbying. As an organization that is eligible to receive contributions that are tax-deductible by the contributor, federal law limits the extent to which the ACLU Foundation of Southern California may engage in lobbying activities. Therefore, much of the lobbying activity done by the ACLU of Southern California and discussed on this website is done by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. By contrast, most of the ACLU of Southern California's litigation and public education efforts described on this website are done by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.