Grants to Non-profit Organizations that Provide Free Civil Legal Aid to Low-Income Illinois

The Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois (LTF) makes grants to non-profit organizations that provide free civil legal aid to low-income Illinois residents.

Donor Name: Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois (LTF)

State: Illinois

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 08/10/2022

Details:

Goals

In allocating grant funds and making awards to individual organizations, LTF prioritizes the following broad goals:

Supporting the availability of legal aid services throughout the state.
Encouraging the use of a variety of methods to deliver services (e.g., advice desks, brief service projects, neighborhood clinics, unbundled representation, technology-based tools, extended representation by staff and volunteer attorneys).
Supporting legal services that address the most critical needs of low-income individuals and families, including health, personal safety, family stability, housing, and economic security.
Supporting legal services that assist low-income individuals and families in overcoming the impacts of historical discrimination and systemic barriers to meeting critical needs, and helping them attain full and equitable participation in society.
Supporting legal services to meet critical needs that otherwise would not be addressed due to geographic location, area of the law, and/or client characteristics.

Eligibility Criteria

LTF funds entities that provide direct legal aid services to low-income Illinois individuals and families. These entities include (1) organizations whose primary focus is on providing legal aid services, and (2) legal aid programs that are distinct sub-units or programs of larger organizations (such as social service providers). Whether an application for funding comes from an organization focused on legal aid or from a program that is part of a larger entity, LTF grants are limited to supporting the delivery of legal aid services. LTF will support law school clinics only if the LTF board determines that the legal aid services provided by the clinic are unique in terms of the types of services offered or the target population to whom servicesare offered. (i.e., no other legal aid entity is providing the same services or targeting the same population.
LTF will not make grants to support the provision of mediation services.
To be eligible for grant funding from LTF, applicants must meet the following requirements:
- Be an Illinois non-profit organization thatis tax-exempt under 501(c)(3) of theInternal Revenue Code.
- Serve Illinois residents who cannot afford to hire private legal counsel, which is generally defined as having incomes below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines.
- Provide services without charge to the client. [Note: This does not mean applicants cannot charge sliding-scale fees to clients with incomes above 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, nor does it mean that grantees cannot require clients to pay court costs or related expenses that cannot be waived. However, LTF funds can only be used to support free services.]
- Employ at least one (1) paid, full-time equivalent staff attorney who has been licensed to practice for a minimum of three years at the time the application is due.