College Columns May 2018 | Page 8

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From the Pro Bono Committee

Janet E. Bostwick, Janet E. Bostwick, PC

Chair, Pro Bono Committee

College. Your generosity is greatly appreciated to enable the Foundation to continue its support of well deserving programs. But, there is no shortage of need. As impressive as the amount of grants were, consider that the Pro Bono Committee received requests totaling more than $2.7 million in the same five year period. We look forward to your continued support as we begin a new grant cycle this year.

Who does the Foundation help? Our grants cover the country, from Maine to Arizona, Florida to Washington, and Illinois to Louisiana. Our typical grant request is $10,000, although new programs may request up to $15,000. Our grants may provide support for larger programs, such as the Los Angeles program which provides volunteer trainings, pro se clinics and a self-help desk with the goal of assisting more than 1,100 individuals a year. But, our grants also include smaller projects, for example providing necessary support for a pro bono clinic in Brunswick, Georgia. An example of the difference our grants make is reflected in our support of a pro se clinic in Oklahoma, where the addition of our funding enabled them to assist twice as many debtors in four months as they had in the entire previous year.

What do our grants fund? Our grants primarily support efforts to expand or leverage pro bono assistance or volunteers. While we may provide funding for staff to coordinate and train pro bono attorneys, we do not typically fund staff salaries for direct services to debtors. We also provide funding for public interest and educational clinics to enable consumers to learn about bankruptcy and their rights. While our goal is to ensure needed debtors have pro bono counsel, we recognize that in some areas the demand is too great. So, we also may provide funding for self help desks or pro se clinics.

What does the Pro Bono Committee do? The Pro Bono Committee undertakes the task of reviewing and evaluating the grant requests and making the recommendations for each individual request. Many thanks to the members of the Committee who spend considerable time and effort on this process. Special thanks to Jim Baillie, who I succeed this year as Chair of the Pro Bono Committee. Jim oversaw the Committee for the last four years, where there was tremendous growth not only in the grants awarded, but in the number of requests. Jim’s dedication to pro bono helped steer the Committee, and his leadership and efforts were greatly appreciated.

What’s next for the Pro Bono Committee? This year, the Committee is expanding its role beyond grant-making, to provide other forms of support to bankruptcy pro bono programs. The Honorable Deborah Thorne has agreed to chair a subcommittee which will utilize the experience and expertise of our Fellows in bankruptcy pro bono efforts. Among its projects, the subcommittee will focus on providing assistance to start new bankruptcy pro bono projects. Judge Thorne’s subcommittee will also work with existing grantees, to encourage and enable more sharing of projects and information. This subcommittee will also look at other ways to assist the bankruptcy pro bono efforts of the Fellows.

As we build on the past, I know it will be another interesting and challenging year for the Pro Bono Committee. I look forward to working with the members of the Committee to continue the financial and other support of bankruptcy pro bono programs. And I thank all the Fellows, the Foundation and the College for their generous support of the pro bono efforts.

In the past five years, the Foundation has given more than $1.9 million in grants to bankruptcy pro bono projects across the country. This would not be possible without the donations of individual Fellows to the Foundation and the contributed funds from the