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
State: Illinois
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/18/2023
Size of the Grant: $25,000
Grant Duration: 12 months
Details:
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.
Funding Information
Minimum Grant Amount In 2023 LTF implemented a minimum annual grant amount of $25,000. For 2024, LTF will continue this policy and will not make annual grant awards of less than $25,000.
Grant Period
January 1 – December 31, 2024
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 3 whom services are 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 that is tax-exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Internal 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. However, emerging organizations or legal aid programs based in under-resourced communities (with a special emphasis on those led and/or governed by members of historically marginalized groups) may seek a waiver of this requirement from LTF through the process described in the instructions section of this document. Waiver decisions will be granted at the sole discretion of the LTF board of directors. For LTF’s purposes, an “emerging organization or legal aid program” is generally defined as a non-profit organization or legal aid program of a non-profit organization created within three years of the application due date and/or with an annual budget of under $300,000 as of the application due date.
For more information, visit LTF.
