PRO BONO PARTNERSHIP INC

Since our founding in 1997, the Partnership has assisted close to 4,000 nonprofits on more than 21,000 legal matters, enabling them to more effectively provide essential programs to children, those who are hungry or are experiencing food insecurity, those who are homeless, seniors and those aging in the community, individuals with disabilities, those who are unemployed, and veterans. The Partnership’s recently completed Strategic Plan identified goals to maintain strong operational and management systems. As the Partnership celebrates 26 years of service, we are poised to expand our role as an innovative community leader.
In 2020, businesses around the country were forced to quickly adapt to changing laws and regulations to continue their operations, keeping both staff and clients safe and complying with numerous safety regulations. For many nonprofits providing essential services, the pandemic also meant they had to quickly expand and adapt their programs to meet tremendous demand and changes in rules and regulations. During this time, Pro Bono Partnership continued to offer legal help to nonprofits with no interruption of service. In fact, the Partnership provided assistance on more matters than ever, providing an estimated $23.5 million in legal services to the tri-state region.
Throughout the pandemic, nonprofits have requested assistance on matters directly related to the pandemic especially HR issues, contract reviews, especially regarding event cancellations, drafting waivers for staff and volunteers, privacy and other concerns surrounding moving programs and board and staff meetings to virtual formats, applying and forgiving SBA loans, and more recently advice on mandating COVID-19 vaccines for employees. Many nonprofits are using this time when they have to suspend or scale down their programs to address longstanding legal issues and on matters including bylaws reviews, employment issues, forming new nonprofits, insurance and privacy concerns.
The pandemic is hopefully entering into a late phase as vaccine rollout amps up and restrictions on in-person gatherings continue to relax, but the long term social, economic, and political affects will continue to affect the nonprofit sector. The pandemic and the racial justice, police reform issues, and gun reform issues that came to a head last summer with the protests after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and numerous others, as well as the uptick of violence against Asian Americans has inspired many nonprofits, including the Partnership to take a more introspective look at their programs, goals, and structures as they relate to racial equality. The Partnership is committed to supporting its clients on the front lines of social justice issues.