This is a singularly tough time for all charities that serve those in need; the demand for their services is increasing to record levels while, simultaneously, their funding sources are dwindling by significant amounts, if not drying up completely. This double whammy leaves many charities stressed and struggling over how to serve an increased clientele with fewer resources — with the stress being more acute since their employees are typically passionate about, and wholly dedicated to, their respective missions.
There is nothing worse for someone passionate about mission than having to turn away those in need of critical services due to insufficient resources. No one of conscience wishes to be forced to decide who gets help and who does not, especially when the needs of many prospective clients are virtually indistinguishable.
I know this pressure first hand from my service on the King County Bar Foundation (KCBF) Board of Trustees. KCBF is charged with raising funds from our local legal community to support the various pro bono civil legal services provided by the King County Bar Association (KCBA) and for the provision to Seattle University Law School and the University of Washington School of Law of annual scholarship funds to promote diversity within our profession. In these times of economic difficulty, we have seen our usual funding sources drop precipitously while the need for pro bono civil legal services has escalated significantly.
For example, three years ago statewide IOLTA funds produced approximately $9 million in income to be shared among the various civil legal aid service providers in the state, including KCBF. This year, due to historically low interest rates and the general lack of the transactional work that largely fuels IOLTA accounts, it is anticipated that annual IOLTA income will approximate $2 million. At the same time, the Housing Justice Project, a KCBA program serving tenants and homeowners, has seen an unprecedented rise in those requesting its services. In 2008, HJP served 1,872 clients; near year’s end in 2009, the number reached 2,294.
KCBF has keenly felt the effects of an adverse economy. Our first encounter was the preparation of our annual budget last spring. Believing in the principle of conservative budgets, we wrestled with the cuts we were forced to make in light of our best estimates of significantly reduced income from each of our usual funding sources.
We wrestled especially with the use of our reserve funds — how much to use to protect ongoing projects in the present versus how much to preserve for future years in the face of bleak economic forecasts. We had significant debates over our conflicting fiduciary obligations to the present and to the future, debates which were equally candid, direct and respectful. And though none of us were pleased with or excited about the end result, I believe we achieved a reasonable final product given the circumstances we faced.
As a consequence of our debates, we also realized that it was timely and necessary for KCBF and KCBA to engage in a significant self-audit with the goal of maximizing our limited resources to do the most good in our community. Because of their nature, many charities try to be all things to all people within the scope of their mission, thereby engaging in some unnecessary services or duplicating the services of others. We did not want to be guilty of not trying to ascertain whether we shared in this failing. To that end, KCBA and KCBF have formed a task force to review our programs, chaired by Colleen Kinerk, a past KCBF president.
However, we have begun our program review in the complete understanding that achieving good health by cost cutting alone is not usually possible. We realize that more is required of us.
My experience on charitable boards has taught me that charities are generally guilty of two things: failing to work in communion with others of similar mission in order to husband scarce resources; and returning too often to the same funding well without regard to whether the well might be poisoned by overuse. There is a somewhat selfish nature to the doing of good works which resides in the belief that one’s own charity is of paramount importance and that everyone else should recognize its primacy by funding it to the exclusion of others with similar mission. While not every charity is guilty of this kind of thinking, many are. Even more to the point, most charities are guilty of spending more time trying to figure out how to get a greater share of scarce resources for themselves, rather than trying to work cooperatively with those in the same mission space to increase those resources and make them stretch further by means of coordinated efforts.
To avoid that sort of thinking, KCBF has elevated its efforts to find new funding sources and to work cooperatively with others. We have been very successful so far in seeking new sponsors of our Breakfast With Champions and in securing grants from local and national foundations that support matters within the scope of our mission.
All KCBF trustees are working hard in partnership with the trustees of LAW Fund to make the annual, statewide Campaign for Equal Justice a success; as of this writing, we are very close to meeting the campaign’s 2009 goal. All involved — KCBF and LAW Fund trustees alike — have spent countless hours writing letters and emails, making phone calls (many of them cold calls) and asking for money from firms and lawyers across the state. We pledge to continue these efforts and each one of us truly appreciates the courtesy with which those letters, emails and calls have been received.
Having completed the KCBF budget, the KCBF Board pledged that it would not be sufficient to simply achieve the budget’s income expectations. While we anticipated that achievement of the budget’s expectations would not be easy in difficult times, we nevertheless began the fundraising portion of our year fully determined not only to meet its income goals but to beat them if we could.
Because our fiscal year does not end until May 31, it is too soon to know whether we will achieve our goal of meeting and then beating the budget, but I am happy to report that, because of the exceptional “can do” spirit that KCBF’s Board possesses, we have a good chance of doing so. We enjoy a great deal of shared enthusiasm and energy and I literally stand in awe of the efforts of so many of my colleagues.
The need to provide pro bono civil legal services is peculiarly local in scope and the obligation to provide these services rests with the licensed lawyers resident in our community. All of the potential clients are our neighbors. No third-party funding source will support a community effort in which that self-same community is not significantly engaged, and in the case of civil legal services it is only our profession that may act. Thus, as is so often the case, KCBF’s ability to meet and beat its budget ultimately rests in the hands of our local legal community — me, my colleagues on the KCBF and KCBA boards, and those of you reading this piece and your colleagues.
Therefore, I am asking for your assistance in helping KCBF achieve and exceed its goals. I make this request in the firm belief that in difficult times it is incumbent upon those of us with incomes and financial reserves to consider increased contributions to our favorite charities, even if we have given substantially in the past, even if we are weary from the effort, and even if, because of the present economy, we are worth less than we used to be on an absolute basis.
I base this belief on the theory that all wealth is relative. Even if, on an absolute basis, I am currently poorer than I was a year ago due to a decline in the value of my asset portfolio, I am, on a relative basis, now wealthier than my many neighbors who have lost jobs and spent entire life savings simply trying to survive.
How can you help? There are a number of ways and you can choose one or all. You can choose not to opt out of the automatic $50 donation that the Washington State Bar Association is requesting of you at the time you file your annual license renewal. You can contribute directly to the Campaign for Equal Justice at its on-line website (www.c4ej.org). You can contribute directly to KCBF either by check or at its on-line website (http://kcbf.org/secure/contribution.src). If you are cash-strapped, you can donate your time and your energy to KCBA by participating as a practicing attorney in one if its many pro bono programs.
You can also join all of the KCBF and KCBA trustees at KCBF’s annual Breakfast With Champions at 7:30 a.m. on March 10 at the Sheraton Hotel (please see the article on Page 5 of this issue for more information). If you join us for breakfast, you will enjoy good food, the companionship of your fellow professionals, the opportunity to hear one of our scholarship recipients explain that scholarship’s importance, and the privilege of hearing from our keynote speaker, former Sen. Tom Daschle. The Breakfast is always fun and we work hard to get you in and out the door in an hour and a half. The Breakfast is a fundraising event, so we do want you to bring — and empty — your wallet.
There simply isn’t a more enjoyable or educational way to do your part than by attending the Breakfast With Champions.
The shameful, hidden truth is that the unmet need for civil legal assistance in our community is huge and has always been unmet even in good economic times. No matter how much money we raise or how many hours our volunteers donate, there are always those without adequate assistance and this economic climate has only exacerbated the problem.
There is no constitutional right to civil legal services as there is with respect to criminal defense, therefore we — the lawyers who reside in and derive an income from this community — have a moral obligation to do our utmost to meet the need for these services. Without our timely assistance, too many renters will be illegally evicted from their homes, too many domestic abuse victims will not receive assistance, too many predatory lending victims will lose their greatest, single financial investment.
This is not a time to let down our efforts to serve our community. The current need for pro bono civil legal services is much greater than at any time during my nearly 40-year legal career. Your license to practice law, your time, your knowledge, your skills, your experience and, yes, even your money are necessary in this struggle. It is not a time for the members of our proud profession to stand aside and merely watch as our neighbors struggle to make ends meet and, in some cases, to survive.
It is cold outside now, both due to the weather and to the current winds of economic adversity. I urge — no, beg — each of you to join KCBF and KCBA in doing all that we can to help our neighbors and their families stay warm and safe.
Stephen Ellis, a partner with Davis Wright Tremaine, is president of the King County Bar Foundation.
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