Impact Fund Offers Support for Litigation to Advance Social Justice – Oct 5

The Impact Fund provides grants to advance social justice in the areas of civil and human rights, environmental justice, and poverty law.

To that end, grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded to nonprofit legal service providers, private attorneys, and/or small law firms seeking to advance justice in the areas of civil rights, human rights, anti-poverty, and environmental justice cases that affect a marginalized group. Grants typically range between $10,000 and $50,000 and are usually awarded for a particular case, but occasionally the fund will support a series of cases connected by a common strategy. Most grants are for class actions, but multi-plaintiff and environmental justice cases that aim to significantly affect a larger system are encouraged.

Impact Fund grants may be used for out-of-pocket litigation expenses such as expert fees and discovery costs, but may not be used for attorney’s fees, staff, or other overhead.

Due to the effects of the pandemic, the fund will fast-track urgent COVID-19-related requests submitted in the month following the LOI deadline.

Letters of Interest must be received no later than October 5. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application by November 2, 2021.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Impact Fund website.