Welcome to the NCBF website!

The National Conference of Bar Foundations is the professional organization for volunteer leaders and executive staff members who serve the more than 200 local, state and specialty bar foundations throughout the nation.Our mission is to improve the administration of justice and the court system as the philanthropic organizations for the legal profession and the judiciary.

NCBF has a wide variety of programs and services that are available for our members, including:

  • Education Seminars
  • Networking Opportunities
  • Best Practices
  • Communications - Listserv, email blasts, website
  • The Complete Guide to Bar Foundations
  • Surveys and Statistical Reports
  • Forms and Procedures Bank
  • Governance and Financial Policies

The NCBF Board of Trustees is a diverse group of bar foundation leaders from all types and all sizes of bar foundations from across the nation. The experienced staff of the American Bar Association's Division for Bar Services provides the necessary guidance and assistance. Please contact me regarding any NCBF matter.

NCBF- the organization of bar foundation professionals that works to meet the needs of the legal community and our citizens.

Amy Sings In The Timber, NCBF President


The Complete Guide to Bar Foundations is a free member benefit to all NCBF members. The guide contains sound advice and information along with sample policies that you can adapt to fit your foundation's needs.

Table of contents

Co-Sponsor of the NCBF/LexisNexis "Partnerships for Success" Award

NCBF/LexisNexis "Partnerships For Success" Award

In partnership with LexisNexis, this NCBF award honors bar foundation initiatives that make a significant impact in their community on issues for which lawyers are uniquely positioned to lead. An underlying goal of this foundation initiative is to establish new partnership opportunities, or leverage existing ones, through the meaningful involvement and support from an affiliated bar association and other allied members of the legal community.

The program must be a law-related philanthropic initiative (e.g., access to justice, law related education, diversity of the legal profession) that:

  1. Is consistent with the NCBF guiding principles (should link to About NCBF – Mission
    and Strategic Goals page);
  2. Has a significant impact on the justice system or the community at large;
  3. Advances a foundation mission that has meaningful support from the association and/or its members;
  4. Engages other community partners (e.g., law firms, the courts, other legal organizations, other foundations supporting or developing law-related programs);
  5. Can serve as a model for other bar associations and/or foundations that could be replicated in some way; and
  6. Demonstrates meaningful involvement and support from the bar association, including (but not limited to):

    • A formal joint initiative co-sponsored and co-administered by the association and
    foundation

    • An initiative where the foundation is the lead entity but has the association’s
    approval and which significantly involves association members in the work

    • An association program funded by the foundation which also directly advances
    the foundation’s mission.

Nominations for the 2013 award are open until May 6. The award will be presented at the NCBP/NABE/NCBF Joint Awards Luncheon on Friday, August 9, in San Francisco. The award-winning bar foundation will make a presentation to the NCBF membership at the Saturday morning program.

Previous Partnerships for Success Award Winners

2012 - Tarrant County Bar Foundation for its Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans-TCBA Chapter

2011 - Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation for its Milwaukee Justice Center

Previous Award Programs

The NCBF Fundraising for Success Award was established to honor excellence in bar foundation fundraising.

The Indianapolis Bar Foundation won the 2012 award for its Giving Level Improvement Initiative. The IBF encouraged those donors that were within reach of a higher giving level to increase their 2011 donation total.

Get more fundraising ideas from other award applicants:

NCBF Award for Bar Foundation Excellence in Public Service Programming.

The NCBF Award for Bar Foundation Excellence in Public Service Programming, established in 1999, recognizes a bar foundation for an innovative, imaginative program and/or grant award for public service projects in the legal arena. The award honors a bar or law foundation for its creative response to important societal issues.

Winning entries from recent years include:

      2010 Springfield (MO) Metropolitan Bar Foundation, “Love Them, Don’t Leave Them Wondering,” designed to assist individuals in understanding and completing medical directives.

      2009    North Carolina Bar Association Foundation, "4ALL," a five-front program with a name that's a twist on "justice for all," and designed to involve all members of the legal profession in North Carolina.

      2008    South Carolina Bar Foundation, "Alternatives to Incarceration," an initiative conducted by the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families and funded by the bar foundation to serve non-violent, low-income fathers who are behind in child support payment

      2007    Cincinnati Bar Foundation, "Out  of the Crossfire," a gunshot violence intervention program created by the bar foundation

      2006    Allegheny County Bar Foundation, "Attorneys Against Hunger," a greassroots campaign to raise money for hunger relief

 

NCBF -ALPS Foundation Services Award for Innovations in Fundraising

The NCBF-ALPS Foundation Services Award for Innovations in Fundraising was established to honor excellence in state and local bar foundation fundraising. Innovative fundraising techniques, from training board members to creating original programs, are important to successful fundraising. Recognition of these efforts benefits all NCBF members by providing information on programs that work and can be replicated by other bar foundations.