Foundation Year-End
the total to date includes several extraordinary gifts there is every reason to believe that we will exceed our goal again as we did last year.
But now, The Reality: So far only 272 of our 847 Fellows have contributed, less than one-third. The one-time, non-recurring gifts take us only so far, and by definition cannot be relied upon from year-to-year. The only way the Foundation can continue to fund the great number of financial grants to pro bono legal services across the country is for each and every one of our Fellows to make it a habit – a priority -- to support our efforts every single year.
And finally, The Challenge: In 2014 we had an overall participation of 64%, and for 2015 we have adjusted the projected rate upward to 72%. We are barely halfway to last year’s participation rate, and far short of this year’s goal. So as some of the “more seasoned” Fellows will remember from the movie Smokey and the Bandit, we still have “a long way to go and a short time to get there!”
By now each of you should have received any number of solicitations from your Circuit Campaign Committees to make your annual 2015 donations. And this year, our new College website makes it easier than ever to donate. Just go to the site at www.amercol.org, and even without logging in to the Fellows-only area you will see half-way down in the left-hand column an orange field with the Foundation logo. Just click on that field and a PayPal page will appear, from which you can make your donation by credit card -- quickly, painlessly and, we hope, generously! For those of you who prefer to donate by check, a click on the red “click here” link immediately below the logo will pull up a PDF form that you can print out, fill in and mail in with your check.
It’s a fact of life that charitable organizations solicit heavily in the last weeks of each year, and the Foundation is no different. Unlike other organizations our request is fairly modest: no amount is too small, and for active practitioners we suggest a contribution equal to one billable hour of your valuable time.
Those of you who attended our Fall Fellows Luncheon in Miami Beach got to hear first-hand from Put Something Back, the program sponsored by Dade Legal Aid in Miami-Dade County and for many years a grant recipient from the Foundation. Even more movingly, you got to hear from a 77 year-old client helped by that program to discharge her debts after she lost her life savings to a Ponzi scheme and had nowhere else to turn for help. Until that day I’d never heard anyone say, “The American College of Bankruptcy Foundation saved my life!” And I have never been prouder to be a Fellow of the College than I was that afternoon.
As we count our many blessings this holiday season, please take a moment to remember the good work of the Foundation and its positive impact on the lives of so many who might otherwise lack access to the resources they need to regain their financial footing.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy holiday and a joyous and prosperous new year.
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ACB & Bloomberg BNA Bankruptcy Breakfast Event
Bankruptcy experts gathered at Bloomberg headquarters in New York on October 23, 2015 to discuss the implications of the five bankruptcy decisions recently handed down by the Supreme Court. The panelists spoke at an event called “A Supreme Court Review of Bankruptcy Cases,” sponsored by Bloomberg Law and The American College of Bankruptcy. Please click here to view recordings of the
event.
Bankruptcy breakfast panelists (from left to right): Richard Levin, Stephen Lubben, Hon. Cecelia Morris, Craig Goldblatt, Stephen Youngman