About the DC Bar Foundation
The DC Bar Foundation is the leading funder of civil legal aid in the District of Columbia. We are committed to the vision that residents of the District have equal access to justice, regardless of income. Our mission is to fund, support, and improve legal representation of people who are financially disenfranchised or who are otherwise underserved in the District of Columbia.
The Bar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, was established in 1977 to provide a vehicle for lawyers and law firms to contribute to legal services organizations in the District of Columbia. In 1985, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals established the District’s IOLTA program, which the Foundation administers. In 2006, the Council of the District of Columbia appropriated funds for civil legal services grants and a poverty lawyer loan repayment assistance program, designating the DC Bar Foundation as administrator.
The Bar Foundation awards grants to the District’s legal services organizations that provide free civil legal services to low-income and underserved people in the District. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $208 million in grants.
GOAL
In September 2019, the DC Bar Foundation committed to this visionary goal:
To transform the civil legal aid network, working closely with all stakeholders,
so District residents have a fair and equal legal experience.
The Foundation seeks to realize this goal using the following five strategies.
STRATEGIES

Engage all stakeholders in the work
The DC Bar Foundation will work with existing and identify new partners to support the civil legal aid network by providing data, identifying needs, sharing observations, serving as a sounding board, and developing solutions to meet the community civil legal aid needs.
Recent activity:
Last year, when faced with a 67% cut to the Access to Justice Initiative budget, DCBF and the civil legal aid community worked collaboratively to secure level funding for FY25. Together, we implemented an advocacy campaign that included amplifying community members’ voices, developing messaging to the DC Council, and sharing stories of impact on social platforms.
In the same spirit of collaboration, the DC Social Justice Transformations Network (DCSJTN), which was formerly the DC Legal Aid Transformations Network, continued to work with stakeholders across all sectors, including legal aid, social services, health services, education, advocacy, and the DC Government, to discuss ways to transform the delivery of civil legal aid in the District. Through quarterly Convenings, which average approximately 80 attendees per meeting, participants
built new and deepened previous relationships. One Network member said: “Participating in DCSJTN has been my greatest reward because I feel excited when meeting new people outside my usual legal and social services circles.”
Finally, the DC Bar Foundation continued to manage two Loan Repayment Assistance Programs, which provide student loan assistance for legal aid attorneys who work in DC. In FY24, 35 legal aid organizations participated in the program, and more than 100 attorneys—combined between both programs—received the LRAP benefit. LRAP enables organizations to retain more staff, increase their client capacity, and reach more residents in need.