The Foundation of the Federal Bar Association: Who We Are and What We Do

Article by Aaron Bulloff from the Winter 2024 issue of The Federal Lawyer

Did you know the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association was chartered by Congress as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1954? We turn 70 this year, but it’s the last 22 that have seen the Foundation grow and become the active supporter of federal law that it is today.

The Foundation’s purpose is to procure funds that advance objectives exclusive to the following educational, charitable, scientific, or literary purposes:

• Promote and support legal research and education;
• Advance the science of jurisprudence;
• Facilitate the administration of justice; and
• Foster improvements in the practice of Federal law.

Early efforts sought to advance various parts of the Foundation’s mission and purpose. On Sept. 24, 1959, Chief Justice Earl Warren challenged the FBA at its annual meeting “to launch a virile program for the improvement of judicial and administrative processes.” Taking up the challenge, the Foundation launched a research project titled “Delays in Justice in the Federal Courts: Their Causes, Effects, and Related Social Phenomena.” In September of 1965, the Foundation published Equal Justice Under Law: The Supreme Court in American Life. The book provided summaries of landmark cases, profiles of Justices, and other stories about the history and influence of the Court.  In the next six years the Foundation sold almost 200,000 copies of the book.

In the 1990s, the FBA devoted substantial effort to advocating for the increase of federal judges’ salaries. In 2001 and 2003 the FBA collaborated with the American Bar Association in the publication of two white papers on federal judicial compensation that helped secure increased salaries.¹ These reports were presented to Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the Supreme Court. The cost of the White Papers was underwritten in substantial part by the Foundation.

In later years, however, the Foundation experienced difficulties advancing its mission. It simply did not have assets to do so. At the time, it did not have an investment corpus from which to draw and depended upon contributions to pay for its specific efforts. The assets that the Foundation did hold primarily consisted of old law books and plaster busts of eminent jurists. But then, at a watershed time, 2000-2001 National FBA President Robert A. McNew—with substantial assistance from FBA members David Guerry, Dennis Clark, past national presidents Russel del Toro, Adrienne Berry, Joyce Kitchens, Bob Mueller, and others—began a campaign to raise funds for the Foundation that would sustain programming on an annual basis. After approximately 15 years, their persistent, relentless, arm-twisting efforts culminated in the successful realization of a corpus goal of $1 million. 

An additional important aspect of this fundraising effort was the creation of the Fellows of the Foundation program in 2002. Original bylaws created for the Fellows program were incorporated into the Foundation bylaws in 2017, which were amended to add Article VIII:

“The purpose of the Fellows of the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association (“Fellows”) shall be to assist in the realization of the objectives of the Foundation by encouraging adequate financial endowment of the Foundation by means of gifts, devises and bequests and by recommending to the Board of Directors projects and programs which, if undertaken by the Foundation, would in the judgment of the Fellows promote legal and other research of importance to federal jurisprudence, the improvement of the administration of justice and the maintenance of the honor and dignity of the legal profession.”

Candidates nominated for the Fellows program must have five years membership in the FBA and have demonstrated exceptional leadership within the FBA and the federal legal community. Fellows support the Foundation through a $1,500 contribution as well as by their service in support of Foundation programing. On March 15, 2002, the first class of Fellows, comprised of 24 Charter Life Fellows (those who completed their pledge in full) and 50 Charter Fellows, was inducted. The Fellows program is now comprised of 279 members, including eight Supreme Court Justices who are honorary members.

The continued growth of the Foundation’s investment corpus was aided in the last several years by three additional factors: a favorable investment climate in the several years prior to the Covid pandemic; the professional management of the Foundation’s investment corpus by Truist Financial Corp.; and substantial donations made by the Federal Bar Building Corp. in 2021 and 2022. Truist’s management continues to the present day and has, with few exceptions, met market benchmarks. These three factors allowed the Foundation’s investment corpus to more than double the initial $1 million goal set by FBA President McNew.

Like most investors, however, the Foundation incurred investment losses in 2022 due to the pandemic’s impact on the economy. Throughout fiscal year 2023, the Foundation’s investment corpus hovered in the $1.6 million to $1.75 million range, depending upon market fluctuations. The Board of the Foundation, in conjunction with advice from the Foundation’s investment managers, determined that programming should continue to be budgeted for and funded at a dollar amount not exceeding 5 percent of the investment corpus, plus any contributions received during a fiscal year. This ensures that the corpus will maintain a sustainable amount for future years.

Following that 5 percent budget guideline, the Foundation continues to endow scholarships, grants, awards, and sponsorships and has even increased the funds for some. The Foundation has awarded nearly $750,000 in total to middle, high school, university, and law school students as well as FBA members, chapters, sections, and divisions. This demonstrates its significant impact in the legal community at large.

In connection with the increased Foundation corpus, the Foundation Board has boosted the amount of funds available for grants and scholarships. Selection committees for each program make award recommendations to the FFBA Board of Directors which, after discussion, approves the final grant and scholarship funding. Starting in 2022, we doubled the budget for Diversity Grants as well as the number of scholarships awarded (from one of each to two) each year.  8

Aaron Bulloff is past president of the Foundation and current chair of the Fellows Committee.

Endnotes

1 Federal Judicial Pay Erosion; A Report on the Need for Reform, presented on February 13, 2001, to Chief Justice Rehnquist; Federal Judicial Pay: An Update on the Urgent Need for Action, presented on May 23, 2003, to Rehnquist.