The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has issued a Request for Letters of Intent to Apply for 2015 Grant Funding describing the conditions for submitting Letters of Intent to Apply for 2015 funding under the Pro Bono Innovation Fund.

The Pro Bono Innovation Fund is LSC’s newest competitive grant program. It was created after the LSC Board of Directors formed a Pro Bono Task Force in 2011 to identify ways to better engage pro bono lawyers and other volunteers to serve low-income people.

The purpose of the Pro Bono Innovation Fund is to develop and enhance pro bono programs that serve larger numbers of low-income clients and that improve the quality and effectiveness of the services clients receive by using pro bono volunteers. Projects should be innovative (new, replicable models and approaches to pro bono delivery) or replicate prior successful models.

The Pro Bono Innovation Fund is designed to address issues identified in the 2012 report of LSC’s Pro Bono Task Force. The report provides a summary of findings that illustrates the current crisis in legal services and suggests ways that pro bono can be used to increase the supply of lawyers and others who are available to provide legal assistance to low-income people. The key goals of the Pro Bono Innovation Fund are to:

1. Address gaps in the delivery of legal services to low-income people.
2. Engage more lawyers and other volunteers in pro bono service.
3. Develop and implement new, innovative, and replicable strategies that address persistent challenges in pro bono delivery systems.

Applicants must be current LSC grantees. LSC welcomes applications from a wide variety of areas without targeting its FY 2015 grants  to specific areas of interest. Consistent with the key goals of the Pro Bono Innovation Fund, however, applicants are encouraged to consider developing projects that propose to replicate effective models of pro bono delivery or propose novel and innovative solutions to persistent challenges in their current pro bono system. Such challenges and solutions may include, but are not limited to:

• Addressing duplicative or fractured pro bono efforts by forming partnerships with pro bono and community stakeholders or adding new partners to existing collaborations (e.g., working with state and local pro bono committees, specialty and minority bar associations, aligning with state Access to Justice Commission initiatives, and complementing selfrepresented litigant efforts).
   
• Developing strategies to bring pro bono services to the locations and communities where clients reside or are accessing services (e.g., medicallegal partnerships, mobile or remote services for rural populations, or adopting a neighborhood), particularly for hard to reach populations.
   
• Developing quality controls and setting goals for timely, effective pro bono work. This can include technology solutions and/or innovative ways to provide more mentoring, training, and support for volunteers (e.g., designating experienced volunteers to mentor newer pro bono attorneys, developing process improvements to share resources through common data portals, and sharing case updates and files with shared case management systems).
   
• Streamlining the process of matching, supporting, and training pro bono volunteers.

Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant awards will cover either an 18- or 24- month project period. Applicants' proposals should cover the full period for which a grant award is requested. The project period is expected to commence in October 2015.

Letters of Intent must be completed and submitted into the online system at http://lscgrants.lsc.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday, February 23, 2015.

LSC will be hosting an informational webinar on Monday, February 2, 2015 at 3:00 pm Eastern to discuss the Pro Bono Innovation Fund Letter of Intent and the full application processes for 2015. Register for the webinar.

Detailed information on the application process for 2015 is contained in the Request for Letters of Intent to Apply for 2015 Grant Funding.

For more information about current Pro Bono Innovation Fund projects, please contact Mytrang Nguyen, Program Counsel, (202) 295-1564 or nguyenm@lsc.gov. If you have a general question or questions about the Pro Bono Innovation Fund application process, please email probonoinnovation@lsc.gov.