First, and by far most important, I hope all of you and your loved ones are safe and healthy in this rapidly changing and uncertain environment.
Second, and I suppose to assume the role of Captain Obvious, this environment has placed even greater strain on the indigent, including the newly unemployed, many of whom may
have no choice other than to avail themselves of our consumer bankruptcy system.
That makes it even more important that we remain vigilant about the good work of the Foundation and, in particular, its Pro Bono Committee. The grants made annually by that Committee, based on extremely hard, months-long review of applications, are directed exclusively to local pro bono legal services organizations providing bankruptcy-related services to the underprivileged.
As you know, that work is entirely dependent on the generosity of Fellows in our annual fundraising campaign; and I am relieved (at least for the moment) that, although no one saw this pandemic coming, you were particularly generous last year.
The 2019 Foundation fundraising campaign produced exciting results in a number of significant respects, including, most importantly, its ultimate grand total. Total giving for 2019 was $345,964 – representing the fourth consecutive year that the campaign broke the magic $300,000 barrier, and surpassing our 2018 result by $17,475 (an improvement of 5.3%). The 2019 result also was another all-time Foundation record.
Importantly, we also exceeded our concededly lofty goal for the 2019 campaign. At our October 2019 all-Fellows luncheon, we announced a College-wide campaign goal of $330,000 (or $15,000 more than the announced 2018 goal). We thus achieved a final result that exceeded our announced aspirations by approximately 4.8%.
THANK YOU to all of our generous Fellows who made these wonderful 2019 results possible. And thanks in particular to our Foundation directors and other fundraisers, who spent essentially the entire Holiday season successfully “Dialing for Dollars.” Incidentally, part of what makes their (and your)
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From the Foundation Chair
Dialing for Dollars: Your Incredible Generosity
Paul E. Harner, Ballard Spahr LLP
Chair, American College of Bankruptcy Foundation
Foundation Officers
Paul E. Harner
Chair
Jan M. Hayden
Vice Chair
Eric W. Lam
Secretary
Rebecca A. Roof
Treasurer
Foundation Directors
Marc Abrams
Russell M. Blain
Hon. Sheri Bluebond
Hon. Janet E. Bostwick
E. Frank Childress, Jr.
Jeanne P. Darcey
Guy A. Davis
Kenneth H. Eckstein
Rozanne M. Giunta
Craig Goldblatt
Ronald F. Greenspan
Richard F. Holley
Vincent E. Lazar
David E. Leta
Paul S. Singerman
Prof. Elizabeth Tashjian
J. Scott Victor
William L. Wallander
David A. Warfield
Richard L. Wasserman
Hon. Judith H. Wizmur (Ret.)
Senior Director
Richard Carmody
Ex Officio
Melissa S. Kibler
Executive Director
Shari A. Bedker