“DONATE” WORKING GROUP CHARTER

GOALS:

• To achieve a balance of $1 million in the NCBF Endowment’s new LANC Fund (through direct gifts and pledges) by the summer of 2008.
• To make recommendations to the NCBA Board of Governors on deepening North Carolina lawyers’ and law firms’ commitment to sustaining Legal Aid of North Carolina over the long term, coordinating local Access to Justice campaigns, and replicating the success of the Mecklenburg County Bar’s annual legal services fundraising efforts in other parts of the state.

BACKGROUND:

According to Momentum 2010, the NCBA’s strategic plan, North Carolina ranks 42nd in the United States in funding for legal services, significantly behind all our southeastern neighbors. Lawyers in our state are not doing an adequate job of supporting legal services programs with our money. North Carolina’s legal community is contributing only about $0.25 per indigent individual to legal services programs each year, as compared with $1.60 per indigent individual contributed by the legal community nationwide.

The Board of Governors has already met one of the goals of Momentum 2010 by establishing a Legal Aid Fund within the NCBF Endowment. Each member of the Board and a number of other NCBA members have made pledges to the Fund. Charlie Dixon of the Hickory bar has announced that he will make a gift of $100,000 to the Fund, leaving a current balance of pledges of $130,000. While under NCBF Endowment rules the Fund will be able to make distributions immediately from these contributions, the Fund needs a corpus of $1 million to make a real difference in helping the legal services community. Norfleet Pruden has agreed to chair an effort to raise a significant sum to add to what has already been pledged. These efforts are underway.

The Mecklenburg County Bar has been extremely successful in raising substantial money through an annual Access to Justice campaign in the Greater Charlotte area, which is served by both LANC and Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont. The Buncombe County bar has been similarly successful in raising funds for Pisgah Legal Services. By contrast, the Access to Justice campaigns in other parts of the state historically have shown relatively lackluster results. The “Donate” Working Group is asked to consider what efforts can be made to marshal greater financial support for LANC and other legal services organizations from North Carolina lawyers on an ongoing basis.

Last Update: Tuesday, January 15, 2008