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that work and meet those needs . If not , please take the time to read Judge Janet Bostwick ’ s periodic reports ( including in this newsletter ) and to visit the Foundation ’ s website for more information regarding our grantees and their essential work .
Against that background , and as we now are in the midst of our annual Foundation fundraising campaign , I thought it worthwhile to review a bit of history . The College has a proud and longstanding tradition , tracing to its early days , of supporting pro bono legal services providers through the Foundation – and what all of you have done is truly remarkable .
• The College created the Foundation in 2002 , formally establishing a philanthropic arm duly qualified as a non-profit charity under section 501 ( c )( 3 ) of the Internal Revenue Code .
• In its first full year of operation , the Foundation raised $ 27,670 – all in direct contributions from Fellows of the College – and made a total of $ 38,973 in grants to 17 providers of bankruptcy-related pro bono legal services .
• Over the course of the succeeding 19 years , the Foundation raised more than $ 3 million and awarded more than 535 grants , totaling more than $ 4 million , to over 500 organizations .
• In 2020 , the Foundation raised more than $ 389,000 . With those funds ( together with additional direct assistance from the College ), the Foundation will make a total of $ 456,200 in grants to 46 pro bono services providers , based on recommendations by the Pro Bono Committee .
The numbers tell a compelling story . Since the inception of the Foundation , your giving has increased over 1300 percent . And on the eve of its twentieth anniversary , the Foundation is in stronger financial shape than ever before . Its annual administrative expenses remain extremely low , at approximately eight percent of total charitable outlays . Likewise , as did the College itself , the Foundation recently established a “ quasi-endowment ” to conservatively and prudently invest for the future – a long-term ( and growing ) fund that now holds only slightly less than $ 2 million .
There is , in short , much in our history of which we can be tremendously proud . Yet there remains , perhaps now more than ever before , compelling need , and a great deal more that can and should be done . Whatever you might have heard , the pandemic is not over , and its long-term economic effects on the neediest in our midst are yet unknown . Even on the other side , there will remain , for the foreseeable future , a deep and everunmet need for the services our grantees provide .
We thus enter the heart of our 2021 campaign with profound gratitude for all you have done – but also with a request that you consider doing even more by making a tax-deductible gift to the Foundation before year-end . Please renew your support now or , better yet , if willing and able , increase your prior gift . Best of all , if you have not given in the past , make it a point to do so this year . Our longstanding goal has been to achieve 100 percent participation among our Fellows . We ’ re not there yet , but are getting ever closer , and I know we can narrow the gap even further as the Foundation enters its third decade of service .
It ’ s all quickly and easily done by
clicking here . THANK YOU for 20 wonderful years of generosity , and HAPPY HOLIDAYS .
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