Our Vision
Our vision is to create a better, more stable society through a more equitable legal system.
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.
For 75 years, The Foundation has mobilized the legal profession to strengthen justice statewide through philanthropy and strategic grantmaking. Our core values are:
Our vision is to create a better, more stable society through a more equitable legal system.
The Foundation is governed by a 23-member Board of Directors, and its members are the New York State Bar Association’s House of Delegates. This governance structure ensures alignment between the Foundation’s philanthropic mission and the priorities of New York’s legal community statewide.
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.