The Bar Foundation's Work Goes Beyond Grants

By Niki T. Ingram, President of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.

Throughout its 60-year history, the Philadelphia Bar Foundation has undergone many transformations. During the mid-to-late 60s, quickly after its founding, the Foundation sponsored several projects, including the Philadelphia Legal Services for Juveniles Project and the Philadelphia Bail Project. For the next three decades, the Foundation continued to expand its grant-making to support some of the largest nonprofits in Philadelphia, including AIDS Law Project, Women Against Abuse, and Support Center for Child Advocates. Still, grantmaking to 36 nonprofit partners remains at the core of the Foundation’s mission. In 2023 alone, it distributed over $750,000 in unrestricted grants. Grantmaking is in the bones of the Foundation. However, the Bar Foundation's work goes beyond grants.

Starting in the early 2000s, its leaders began to broaden the organization's work. Leaders of the Foundation started to see a need for engagement with young lawyers to cultivate interest in serving in the public interest field. Today, the Foundation administers 10 fellowships, scholarships, and programs primarily supporting public interest and pro bono lawyers, law students, and recent graduates. For example, ACCGP Diversity Corporate Internship Program has placed 175 law students since 2011 as summer interns with corporations, giving them essential career skills and connections. The Judge William M. Marutani Fellowship, which is also supported by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, has supported 78 law students pursuing summer internships with public interest or government organizations in Philadelphia or Pennsylvania since 2004.  The Bar Foundation is also pioneering the Equal Justice Center, which will serve as a virtual hub for Philadelphians to learn about and take advantage of civil legal services that suit their needs.

One of the most prominent programs is the Board Observer Program. Since its start in 2012, the program has placed more than 400 young lawyers as observers on nonprofit boards to inspire them to serve as long-term board members and/or be inspired to find other ways to connect to and give back to their community. Cultivating interest in nonprofits and civil legal aid in young lawyers is fundamental for the future of access to justice in Philadelphia. 

The Board Observer Program (BOP) provides young lawyers with a unique opportunity to learn about and make connections in the world of nonprofits. They also gain leadership skills and strengthen their professional networks in ways that help them succeed in their future careers. Participating nonprofits benefit from these young lawyers' energy and new ideas, strengthening the broader nonprofit community. 2024 participating organizations include Education Law Center, Legal Clinic for the Disabled, Pennsylvania Innocence Project, and many more. 

Earlier this summer, BOP hosted its second training of the year. In this training session, participants were introduced to the world of nonprofit finances. Lovepreet Buttar, Managing Director of The Mercadien Group, and Mark A. Gittelman, Esq., retired Chief Counsel at PNC Bank and Philadelphia Bar Foundation Trustee, led Board Observers through essential financial concepts, including key financial statements, an overview of nonprofit accounting and financial reporting, foundational knowledge of budgeting and forecasting, and a comprehensive explanation of the IRS Form 990. The Bar Foundation staff is already gearing up for the 2025 BOP! Updates, including nonprofit participant applications, will be posted on our website and social media soon.

Another program that has been busy this summer is the R. Nicholas Gimbel Fund for Legal Excellence. The R. Nicholas Gimbel Fund for Legal Excellence supports training programs at no cost for public interest lawyers in the Philadelphia area who practice at government agencies and organizations providing access to free or low-cost legal services. These programs teach legal aid attorneys the practical skills and techniques that are vital in achieving fairness and “leveling the playing field” within the legal system. The program has provided over 200 public interest lawyers with free legal skills training since its founding in 2013. 

Last month, the Philadelphia Bar Foundation offered a two-day legal writing seminar at Troutman Pepper under the auspices of the R. Nicholas Gimbel Fund for Legal Excellence and in collaboration with NITA. Over 30 staff attorneys from 11 local nonprofits participated in this special opportunity. 

Although the Philadelphia Bar Foundation is most known for grantmaking, our work goes far beyond that. As Philadelphia continues to evolve, so will the Foundation. We are proud to be a chapter in so many lawyers' professional stories and will continue to help them be the best lawyer they can be. 

For those who think this is the first time we have lived through such tumultuous times, I suggest The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. This is a fascinating read about the run-up to the Civil War. Even though you know what is going to happen, it is a page-turner that reminds us that we must learn from our history.