Transcript Welcome! [lsntap.org]

Fundraising for Your
Statewide Website in
Tough Economic Times
2009 Statewide Website Training Series,
Co-sponsored by NTAP and Pro Bono Net
September 11, 2009
Panelists
Liz Keith, Pro Bono Net
 David Bonebrake, LSNTAP
 Mark Marquardt, Lawyers Trust Fund of
Illinois

Agenda
Introduction: Best of Times and Worst of
Times for Statewide Websites
 Ranting to the Choir – The Real Value of
Internet Based Resources
 Liz's Section
 Fundraising Roundtable Discussion

“Wow, that's cliche...”
Technologies Available for New
SWEB Initiatves
Document Assembly
 CMS Integration
 Online Intake (or Access)
 Content Syndication
 Internet Representation
 Live Help
 Online Project Management

1
Ranting to the Choir
A Few Thoughts on the Real Value of
Internet-based Legal Aid Resources
Mark Marquardt
Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois
10
LTF Support for
Illinois Legal Aid Online
• Part of planning group/steering committee from
the beginning (1999);
• Pledged $150,000 start-up grant in FY 01
• LTF has contributed $3.3 million total
• $550,000 for ILAO in FY 10
 Our 5th largest grant (out of 30+)
 6.4% of total grant funds
11
Two Sides of an Unhelpful Intellectual Coin
Bedeviling Web-based Legal Aid
Scarcity
“What are some cheap solutions we
can throw at the problem?”
The Gold Standard
“What can we give people if we
can’t give them what they really
need?”
12
Other Perspectives…
Legal Aid Attorney
“By the way, many of the people
that come to see us have already
searched for information on your
website and done very well on
their own- in case you have not
heard it enough - it gives people a
good basis to start advocating for
themselves, and they usually calls
us because something unusual or
complex is happening in their
case. Keep up the good work.”
ILAO User
"This is a wonderful site! I went to
Markham Courthouse and even
though the people are very
wonderful and helpful, they can only
help so much. I was told that I had
to re-type two packets of documents
and between work, school and my
children, this was just too much to
get a divorce. Your site is a god-send
and God bless you all for helping
those of us who don't have a lot of
income but will do whatever needs
to be done for the safety of my
children. God Bless You All!"
13
Web-based legal information is not a
CONSOLATION PRIZE
14
MRM’s Formula for Printing Money
Ideas
Conviction
Empirical Data
+
Self-awareness2
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
15
Convince Yourself First
• Is the information your site provides accurate and up to
date?
• Is the information your site provides easy to find and
easy to understand?
• Is your site the most comprehensive source of legal
information in the state?
• Is your site the most cost-effective source of legal
information in the state?
• Can you make a strong, clear, affirmative case about
where your site fits into the legal aid delivery system in
your state?
16
Know What You Can Know
• Are you conducting usability testing?
• Do you know where users are coming from?
• Do you know anything about the income, age and
education levels of your users?
• Are there systems in place to collect & analyze user
feedback?
• What do you know about whether/how people actually
use your information (i.e., self-screening through selfrepresentation).
17
Demonstrate Self-Awareness
• Can you articulate the distinct advantages of what you
offer vis a vis other parts of the delivery system?
• Can you articulate the limitations of what you offer while
recognizing that those limitations are a distinction rather
than a flaw?
18
How Funders Think
“The [ILAO] site receives almost 60,000 visits per
month. According to a survey of users, 96% of visitors
live in Illinois, and over 70% were either low income or
getting information for someone who was low income. If
one makes a conservative estimate and assumes that the
average visitor came to the site four times, this still
means that 15,000 unique visitors are being helped each
month. To serve the same number of people each year
(180,000) using [an Illinois hotline program] would
cost $6,840,000. By way of comparison, ILAO’s total
budget last year was only $912,220. The number of
visitors increased 34% last year, and the cost-per-case
math will only get better as traffic increases.”
19
See Your Future, Be Your Future:
Online Intake Access
The real potential of web-based legal aid
resources will only be fully recognized when they
are fully integrated into the current delivery
system – a starting point, not a fallback.
What are you doing to make that a reality?
LawHelp.org/NY
2007 - Office of the New York Attorney General
awarded LawHelp/NY a significant one-time
Consumer Cyber-Awareness grant to launch an
Internet Fraud topic area on the LawHelp/NY
site, as a response to the growing trend of
Internet fraud and crimes.
LawHelp.org/NY has also forged relationships
with state legislators and their constituent
services staff, leading to a new funding stream
this year.
State Agencies
State Attorney General’s offices have supported
consumer-related content and outreach
projects in several states
State Service Commissions have awarded
Americorps*VISTA grants to several programs
for statewide website support activities
Other examples?
Private Funders
Outreach support
LawHelpCA - Van Löben Sels /RembeRock
Foundation support for LEAP (Language
Expansion and Access Project) program
Content development
Colorado Legal Services - Rose Community
Foundation support for Citizens ID content
National Employment Law Project - Ira W.
DeCamp Foundation grant to launch a new
New York State unemployment insurance
practice area for advocates.
Corporate Funders
Iowa Legal Aid - support from a local financial
institution to develop an online Used Car
Buyer’s Toolkit
ABA Commission on Domestic Violence –
support from the Verizon Wireless HopeLine
program national DV pro bono opportunity
guide
Law firms (cash and in-kind support)
Other examples?
National Funders
ABA mini-grants
Montana Legal Services Association (MSLA) received a $10,000
grant from the ABA Child Custody and Adoption Pro Bono Project
project to develop information packets for Montana attorneys who
volunteer to represent children in custody and parenting plan
actions. These were distributed via MontanaProbono.net.
State Justice Institute
American College of Trial Lawyers
TIG
Other examples?
Federal funding streams for legal aid
If your program is considering applying for these
streams, what role can your statewide website
play in supporting the proposed services and
activities?
Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in
the Administration for Children and Families
(ACF)
VOCA grants - DV victims/crime victims
VAWA / Stimulus grants
What are common themes in these
examples?
Mission-centric, not SWEB in isolation
Focused, timely pitches
Leveraging partnerships and collaborations
Less emphasis on tech, more on content,
outreach and impact
How can you cultivate new funding
opportunities?
Invest in stakeholders and partnerships
Get funders to talk to other funders on your
behalf
Incorporate technology into your strategic
and development planning
Boost your PR and outreach efforts
Research resources
Fundraising/Sustainability Resources in
probono.net/statewebsites
The Foundation Center and Philanthropy
Grant News e-newsletter
Chronicle of Philanthropy
90 Foundations that Tweet
http://philanthropy411.wordpress.com/2009/07
/20/foundations-that-tweet/
Thank You!
•
•
•
Liz Keith - [email protected]
David Bonebrake - [email protected]
Mark Marquardt - [email protected]