NAACP Legal Defense Fund

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Abbreviation	LDF
Motto	Defend Educate Empower
Formation	1940 (1940)
Type	Non-profit organization
Purpose	LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans.
Headquarters	40 Rector Street, 5th floor New York City, New York, 10006 U.S.
Region served	United States
President and Director-Counsel	Sherrilyn Ifill
Website	www.naacpldf.org

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Inc. Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City.

The organization can trace its origins to the legal department of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that was created by Charles Hamilton Houston in the 1930s. However, in 1940, Thurgood Marshall established LDF as a separate legal entity and, in 1957, the organization became totally independent of the NAACP.

John Payton served as LDF's 6th director-counsel and president from 2008 until his death in March, 2012.Sherrilyn Ifill was named the new president and director-counsel of LDF in November 2012.

While primarily focused on the civil rights of African Americans in the U.S., LDF states it has "been instrumental in the formation of similar organizations that have replicated its organizational model in order to promote equality for Asian-Americans, Latinos, and women in the United States." LDF has also been involved in "the campaign for human rights throughout the world, including in South Africa, Canada, Brazil, and elsewhere."

LDF's national office is in Manhattan, with regional offices in Washington, D.C. LDF has nearly two dozen staff lawyers and hundreds of cooperating attorneys across the nation.

The board of directors of the NAACP created the Legal Defense Fund in 1940 specifically for tax purposes. In 1957, intimidated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, LDF was completely separated from the NAACP and given its own independent board and staff. Although LDF was originally meant to operate in accordance with NAACP policy, after 1961, serious disputes emerged between the two organizations. These disputes ultimately led the NAACP to create its own internal legal department while LDF continued to operate and score significant legal victories as an independent organization.