MBF Awards $3.35 Million in IOLTA Grants for 2011/2012

The Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF) recently awarded $3.35 million in grants through its annual Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Grants Program. This year's grants will fund 104 programs conducted by 74 nonprofit organizations throughout Massachusetts.

These grants support projects that either offer civil legal services to people who cannot otherwise afford them or improve the administration of justice in the Commonwealth. Grants providing direct legal services include support to domestic violence programs, special education advocacy, consumer debt counseling, and homelessness prevention.  Grants to improve the administration of justice include such efforts as court-linked mediation and lawyer-of-the-day programs.

Funds for these grants are provided by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Interest on Lawyer's Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program. The Massachusetts Bar Foundation is one of three charitable entities in Massachusetts that distributes IOLTA funds.

As a result of the economic downtown, available funds for IOLTA grants have declined by almost 70% over the last several years. Trustees of the Foundation voted for the third year in a row to draw money from MBF reserve funds to help to fund the awards. "The MBF Trustees have been focused on minimizing the impact of drastically shrinking resources on already strained grantee organizations," said MBF President Joseph P. J. Vrabel. "We will continue to work to do everything we possibly can to help our grantee organizations keep these essential services available to those most in need."

Click here to view a complete listing of the 20011/2012 IOLTA grant recipients.