Welcome to the resource development
initiative of the Project for the Future of Equal Justice. The Project develops and implements national strategies and activities designed
to expand and diversify funding for the community of advocates that provides
civil legal assistance to low-income persons. This broad and diverse community
includes state and local organizations that provide direct civil legal
assistance to low-income individuals and groups. It also includes independent
and bar-sponsored pro bono programs, as well as advocacy organizations that
serve special client groups, such as immigrants, victims of domestic violence
and persons affected by HIV. Additionally, the community of advocates includes
national and state entities that engage in policy advocacy and litigation, and
that provide support and technical assistance to local organizations.
As part of the Project's campaign to develop state justice communities
in every state, we develops national strategies to expand the
resources necessary to support these communities, and coordinate with a broad range of partners in the non-profit, government,
philanthropic and private sectors. During the start up phase of the Project’s
resource development work, a broad-based Resource
Development Advisory Council helped set priorities. The Council
included representatives of major non-profit organizations, religious
institutions, foundations, corporations, private law firms, bar associations,
bar foundations, universities, local providers of civil legal assistance to
low-income persons and national legal advocacy organizations.
Based on the Council’s guidance, the Project's initiative is focused
in three priority areas:
- A national public awareness campaign designed to increase
funding and public support for organizations that provide civil legal
assistance to low-income people;
- Philanthropic outreach
designed to educate foundations about the
importance of funding legal advocacy for low-income people, along with
educating civil legal services advocates about the practices and protocols
of the philanthropic community; and
- Promotion of statewide resource development to foster the
expansion and equitable distribution of resources throughout states, and
to increase efficiency in raising and administering funds.
PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
The Project is developing a national
public awareness campaign to increase support for civil legal
assistance to low-income people. The aim of the campaign is to create an
environment that cultivates the public support and funding necessary to
sustain the systems and programs that address the legal problems of low-income
people. The goals of the campaign are:
- To educate the public and target audiences about the public benefit and
importance of civil legal assistance to low-income people;
- To inform the public and target audiences about the amount of unmet
legal need for civil legal assistance to low-income people; and
- To overcome negative stereotypes about organizations that provide civil
legal assistance and the clients that they serve.
The campaign is a multi-staged process that combines research and
implementation. The consultants have completed ten focus groups and currently
are conducting a national survey. Subsequently, draft messages will be tested
with target audiences, and materials will be developed based on the research.
FOUNDATION OUTREACH
The Project is pursuing strategies for educating foundations about the
importance of funding legal advocacy for low-income people. We are discussing this objective with representatives of issue-based affinity groups
whose members fund advocacy for low-income persons. Targeted affinity groups
include those focusing on women’s and children’s issues, immigration,
welfare to work, housing and economic development. Neighborhood grantmakers
and community foundations also will be approached.
The Project has organized workshops on foundation fundraising at the
NLADA Conference and the Equal Justice Conference,
and foundation representatives have participated in those sessions.
STATEWIDE RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The Project promotes and supports statewide resource development to encourage
growth and equitable distribution of resources throughout states, and to
increase efficiency in raising and administering funds. It also serves as a
clearinghouse of information for states that are designing new
structures to expand and allocate resources on a statewide basis.
The Project began to identify goals and benchmarks for statewide resource
development through its paper Growing
and Diversifying State Level Resources: Goals, Benchmarks and Examples
. This document discusses the goals and key elements of statewide resource
development planning and highlights how leaders in five states have developed
structures to expand and diversify resources on a statewide basis.
In addition, the Project continues to coordinate with the
ABA Project to Expand Resources for Legal Services (PERLS) to
provide detailed information on the ABA web-based PERLS chart about several
states that have significantly expanded and diversified their resources. This
information will appear on the PERLS chart (with a link to the PFEJ site) and
it will provide specific information about aggregate amounts of funding,
specific funding sources and the leadership story of how state planners moved
forward with a statewide resource development agenda.
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Contact Bonnie Allen, Project Resource Development and
Communications Coordinator, at 202/452-0620 ext. 221,
or by e-mail. , for more
information about this site or the resource development activities of the
Project.
