As one of the largest and most influential Chapters of the Association of Corporate Counsel, we at the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter find it important, in addition to providing CLE programming, networking and social events to our members, to support local legal services organizations providing much needed assistance to the disadvantaged and underserved in our community. In furtherance of this goal, our Chapter recently authorized our Stewardship Committee to award grants totaling $20,000 to seven local organizations, listed below. This brings the 2012 grant total to $50,000.
In selecting grant recipients, our Stewardship Committee considers factors such as: geographic area of services provided; sector of need addressed; ability to provide training and guidance to lawyer volunteers; potential impact and use of a contribution from us; and factors such as whether they are small organizations where our support will have a major impact and large organizations where our Members may volunteer to provide legal work, and feel a part of the organization's legal team.
We appreciate the positive impact our support has on our grant recipients. We were especially happy to receive one recipient's response describing their appreciation, need and use for the grant: “[T]his couldn't have come at a better time. I can't thank you all enough. Our [government] grant, which was paying for our third attorney position so that we had a Spanish speaking attorney to help sexual assault and stalking survivors, ended on July 31 . . . and I have been struggling to figure out how to come up with enough money even to hire someone on a temporary basis. Your $5,000 helps us a lot and is going to allow me to post for at least a six-month temporary position, which gives me time to find further funding to keep the position whole. I love Christmas, especially when it comes three months early!”
Here are our recipient organizations: Legal Services for Children (San Francisco); Legal Assistance to the Elderly (San Francisco); Legal Advocates for Children & Youth (Silicon Valley); Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic (San Francisco); AIDS Legal Referral Panel Bay Area; and Legal Aid of San Mateo County.