Welcome to The New York Bar Foundation

The word Justice on a white building

About the New York Bar Foundation

  • The New York Bar Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic entity of the New York State Bar Association. We receive charitable contributions from individuals, law firms, corporations and other entities, and provide grants to further our primary goals:
    • Advancing service to the public
    • Improving the administration of justice
    • Supporting legal research and education
    • Upholding high standards of professional ethics
    • Increasing public understanding of legal heritage

Established in the summer of 1950, The New York Bar Foundation is a nonprofit, philanthropic organization that receives charitable contributions from individuals, law firms, corporations or other entities and provides grants to further its goals of promoting and advancing the following:
• Service to the public
• Improvements in the administration of justice
• Legal research and education
• High standards of professional ethics
• Public understanding of legal heritage

The Foundation makes grants to financially support law-related programs of legal services organizations, nonprofits, bar associations and other organizations throughout New York State.

The Foundation membership consists of the House of Delegates of the New York State Bar Association.

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Our Mission

The Foundation is dedicated to aiding charitable projects aimed at meeting the law-related needs of the public and the profession. We solicit charitable contributions and provides funding for the following purposes:

  • Increasing public understanding of the law 
  • Improving the justice system and the law
  • Facilitating the delivery of legal services
  • Enhancing professional competence and ethics

Our Vision

Our vision is to create a better, more stable society through a more equitable legal system.

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Who We Are

The New York Bar Foundation Board of Directors Meeting sign

Board of Directors

The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors, including distinguished lawyers from across the State of New York. Five officers, twenty-six directors, and three ex officio directors (the Chair and Vice Chairs of The Fellows of The New York Bar Foundation).

Meet Our Board

The President

Carla M. Palumbo, Esq., The Legal Aid Society, Rochester, President Ms. Palumbo steps in as President of the Foundation’s Board of Directors having served on the board for 15 years. She has been active on the Foundation’s Grants Review, Nominating, and Personnel committees, and served as vice president since 2018. Palumbo has been a Fellow of the Foundation since 2004 and is currently in the Cardozo Circle of Giving.


Meet Our President

Image of Carla Palumbo, Vice-President

Our History

In the summer of 1950, a group of forward-thinking lawyers from across New York State agreed: there were significant law-related endeavors that needed to be undertaken. They founded The New York State Bar Foundation as the charitable, non-for-profit arm, allowing them to receive contributions from individuals or other entities and disburse funds to further its philanthropic goals.

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