Overview of our Grants and Programs

Grants

In the mid 1980s, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court created Maine's IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) program and entrusted the Foundation with its operation. IOLTA is a unique and innovative way to increase access to justice for individuals and families living in poverty and to improve our justice system. Without taxing the public, and at no cost to lawyers or their clients, interest from lawyers’ trust accounts is pooled to provide civil legal aid to the poor and support improvements to the justice system. Elders, immigrants, abused women and children, and many others get help with pressing legal needs.

Over $26 million for civil legal aid

Over the last 30 years, the Maine Justice Foundation has managed over $26 million of IOLTA funds which provide annual operating funds to six core providers of civil legal aid for low-income and vulnerable Mainers: The University of Maine School of Law Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Legal Services for the Elderly, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and Volunteer Lawyers Project.

The amount of IOLTA income depends on interest rates paid on the accounts. When rates drop and stay low, as they have from the beginning of 2008 to the present, IOLTA revenue declines. Many IOLTA programs have been forced to reduce grants to legal aid providers, in many cases, by large percentages. Though the effects of the historically low interest rates will be felt for some time, these rates tend to be cyclical. To offset revenue declines, IOLTA programs throughout the country negotiate with financial institutions to reduce service charges and increase interest rates on IOLTA accounts. Working with banks and attorneys helps ensure that IOLTA generates as much funding as possible in order to provide legal aid for those who have nowhere else to turn.

Established in 2020, the Racial Justice Fund is an endowed fund of the Foundation that seeks to educate and advocate for systemic change that will foster racial justice and equity in Maine.

Despite decades of inspiring individual action, a vibrant civil rights movement, and the fall of barriers and cultural norms that kept Black Americans from enjoying all the benefits of citizenship, there remains work undone in our continuing effort to fulfill the American promise for every citizen.  It is revealed especially in the seemingly intractable violence, often committed with shocking impunity, against Black Americans as they go about their daily lives.

Twenty-two leading Maine companies and the Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation stepped forward in the summer of 2020 to help us create the Racial Justice Fund. We are grateful for their support.

The fund will support initiatives across Maine that address systemic racism and inequality inside and outside the legal system. An advisory committee of lawyers, academics, and public officials, including Black and indigenous Mainers, will guide the creation of the fund’s specific priorities.

Learn more about the Racial Justice Fund or make a gift today.

Imagine having your house, your health benefits or even your children taken away. You feel helpless. You do not know what to do or where to turn for help. Now imagine you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Your situation just became more difficult and riskier. If you do not have the income to get legal representation, you are left with no place to turn.

The movement for full equality for LGBTQ+ people has seen incredible progress in a short time. But there are still many threats to the laws that protect LGBTQ+ people. Not only do they face discrimination in employment and housing, but they also find that current laws do not address their specific needs and concerns. We must make sure that every LGBTQ+ person has access to justice. They ought to be able to rely on civil legal aid providers to get them the help they deserve. We need to be sure that they know how to get the services they need.

In recognition of this special need to support the LGBTQ+ community, the LGBTQ+ Fund was founded in 2016 by Bill Robitzek, then President of the Maine Justice Foundation. Bill was a successful trial lawyer for over 35 years before starting his current practice as a mediator, arbitrator, and trial consultant. Bill started this important fund to provide funding for nonprofit organizations that address the civil legal aid needs of low-income and LGBTQ+ Mainers in need. An Advisory Committee will make grant recommendations each year for the distribution of grants. The committee will include fund founders, grants committee members of the Foundation, and people involved in the work supporting LGBTQ+ people.

Programs