Our goal is to increase private foundation giving to civil legal assistance efforts in Wisconsin. The Commission has been meeting with a variety of private funding sources in Wisconsin to educate them about the linkage between access to civil legal assistance and a variety of the social issues that private foundations are seeking to address. We do this through community events that we call Just Breakfast. We’ve held two events, in the Fox Valley and in Wausau, with more in the planning stage.
Providing equal access to appropriate civil legal assistance can help private funders achieve their objectives to: reduce the impact of domestic violence, increase access to employment, prevent homelessness, expand health care coverage and much more. Private philanthropic efforts and civil legal aid are “natural allies.”
What can you do? Make sure that the family, community and United Way foundations in your area understand the connection between the availability of legal assistance and progress on the social problems that they are trying to address through grants. We developed a great resource to help you do that. Our downloadable Equal Justice Strong Communities brochure can be used as a concise way to preview your message with potential donors or to remind them of the connection between their philanthropic goals and the client services you provide. We’re using it in our outreach campaign to Wisconsin foundations. We also have printed copies available if you need them. Do you have a foundation relationship that you would like to talk about? Contact us. We’d like to hear about it.
