Foundation announces plans to increase Endowment to at least $1 million by 2010
Robert Ridge, president of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation Board of Trustees, has announced a campaign to increase the foundation's endowment to at least $1 million by 2010. The announcement was made at the Foundation's annual Fellows dinner at which 79 attorneys were recognized for their commitment to excellence in charitable, community, professional, and public service.
The fundraising effort, titled "Building Bridges, A Campaign to Benefit the Next Generation", will assist the foundation in expanding the reach of its mission by generating ongoing and start-up funding for pro bono clinics and initiatives, sponsoring training and publications for volunteers providing legal assistance, providing malpractice insurance for additional legal service agencies not currently receiving coverage, hosting informational programs for the members of the bar and for the public, and expanding community outreach programs.
The Allegheny County Bar Association, the foundation's parent organization, has pledged $300,000 over a six-year period in support of the campaign. The campaign has also received pledges for $25,000 from Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot; LCC, Reed Smith, LLP; Tucker Arensberg, P.C.; Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, P.C. and Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP; $15,000 from Jones Day, as well as individual pledges from Endowment Campaign Committee co-chairs Edward G. O'Connor and Joan Ellenbogen, and Fellows Program chair Stephan K. Todd.
According to Ridge, "An increased endowment will enable the foundation to award additional grants to agencies providing direct legal services to low-income residents in Allegheny County, and will ensure that the foundation will be able to continue its good works in the community for generations to come."