Final Proposed Draft Performance Standard Seven — Resource Development July 2009
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PERFORMANCE STANDARD SEVEN
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The organization works collaboratively and strategically with the unified statewide Campaign for Equal Justice and the Equal Justice Coalition to increase and leverage private and public financial support for civil legal aid.
COMMENTARY
Civil legal aid is dependent on an intricate mix of private and public funding sources. Alliance members should approach resource development mindful of the importance of not disturbing the harmony of efforts to work cooperatively and collaboratively in preserving and expanding resources available to civil legal aid. History and experience throughout the country and in Washington State demonstrate that active coordination of resource development efforts maximizes the statewide legal aid system’s capacity to secure, expand and protect private and public civil legal aid funding. In accord with this insight, five core values underlie this Performance Standard:
1. Coordination and cooperation with the Equal Justice Coalition in local and statewide efforts to preserve and expand public resources committed to the support of civil legal aid;
2. Participation in and cooperation with the Campaign for Equal Justice in local and statewide efforts to develop and expand private resources to support civil legal aid;
3. Creation and dissemination of consistent messages and communications related to the goals and objectives of the Alliance for Equal Justice;
4. Equitable allocation of private and public resources for civil legal aid delivery consistent with the Access to Justice Board’s Hallmarks and State Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Aid in Washington.
- Coordination and cooperation in local and statewide efforts to preserve and expand public resources committed to the support of civil legal aid
Since 1996, the ATJ Board’s Equal Justice Coalition has coordinated all Alliance-based efforts relating to federal and state public funding. Recognizing that the Alliance must speak with a common voice on public resource development efforts, the ATJ Board determined that the EJC should serve as the principal voice of the Alliance on matters relating to federal and state funding. The EJC has a long history of success, first defending against proposed cuts in federal and state funding; and, in recent years, coordinating efforts to secure significant increases in statewide funding. Where consistent with statewide priorities, the EJC has also helped Alliance members with local public funding efforts.
All Alliance members are expected to support efforts of the EJC to preserve and expand public resources committed to the support of civil legal aid. Each member is also expected to inform the EJC of any intent to seek local public or federal funding potentially available to it and to coordinate such efforts with the EJC.
2. Participation in and cooperation with the Campaign for Equal Justice in local and statewide efforts to develop and expand private resources to support civil legal aid
After many years of discussion, the ATJ Board adopted the 2004 recommendations of its Resource Development Committee which called for the establishment of a unified, statewide private resource development effort – the Campaign for Equal Justice.[1] Subsequent state plans have confirmed the importance of a unified, coordinated statewide private resource effort, calling upon all Alliance members to participate actively in and support the Campaign for Equal Justice to develop operating support from within the legal community.[2]
Alliance member organizations should not engage in private resource development activities that compete with those being carried out at the statewide level.
Each Alliance member organization is expected to advise staff at the Campaign for Equal Justice about its private resource development efforts, including planned submissions to philanthropic organizations,[3] and to consult about potential coordination of such efforts with the Campaign. Such coordination ensures that opportunities are effectively evaluated for consistency with statewide strategies, are grounded in messages the complement the Alliance’s overall resource development efforts, and reduce confusion among prospective charitable donors about civil legal aid.
3. Creation and dissemination of consistent messages and communications related to the goals and objectives of the Alliance for Equal Justice
The 2006 State Plan recognizes that it is critical to develop and implement “a strategic, planned and sustained effort to build and maintain understanding and support for the work and vision of the Alliance.”[4] Consistent and coordinated messaging is particularly critical to private and public resource development efforts. Alliance member organizations are expected to work proactively with staff at the Legal Foundation of Washington responsible for developing and disseminating consistent messages around the need for civil legal aid and its value, as well as the work of the Alliance for Equal Justice .
5. Equitable allocation of private and public resources for civil legal aid delivery consistent with the Access to Justice Board’s Hallmarks and State Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Aid in Washington
Responsibility for underwriting the civil legal aid system falls principally to the statewide funding entities – the Legal Foundation of Washington (LFW) and the Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCLA). Legal aid organizations recognize that these funders, consistent with their statutory and other legal obligations, have a responsibility to allocate legal aid funding to respond to the most pressing needs of low income persons, to support a full range of legal services and to ensure equitable access to legal aid throughout the state, in conformance with the ATJ Board's Hallmarks and the State Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Aid in Washington.
In carrying out these responsibilities, the Legal Foundation of Washington administers and distributes funds that originate from IOLTA accounts, the Campaign for Equal Justice, CR 23(e) (cy pres), the Office of Civil Legal Aid (through a subcontract with the Northwest Justice Project) and other available resources. Robust coordinated statewide private and public resource development efforts described in the commentary to the previous four core values are essential to the Legal Foundation’s capacity to discharge its grant making responsibilities. The Office of Civil Legal Aid distributes funds made available by the State Legislature in accordance with applicable statutory authority.[5]
[1] The Resource Development Committee Report is found at http://www.wsba.org/atj/documents/200405rdcreporttoatjboardwithattachments.doc
[2] See for example, The 2006 State Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Aid at 27.
[3] It is recognized that some grant submissions will be for funds that are only available locally and in small amounts. Alliance members are not expected to advise and consult the Campaign regarding such applications.
[4] State Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Aid (2006) at 29.
[5] RCW 2.53, et. seq.