Our Mission

The Foundation is dedicated to promoting understanding of the law, the role of the legal profession, and access to justice for all. Through grants, the Foundation provides seed money and support for a variety of programs.

Over the past 20 years the Bar Foundation has carefully evaluated which community projects align with the Foundation’s mission and capacity to make a difference; currently making grants of approximately $200,000 annually from a corpus of $2.2 million. The following are representative of projects that the CBF has funded:

• $110,000 in scholarships to female and minority law students through the Schermer Scholarship Fund
• Over $510,000 to the Legal Aid Society of Columbus to help children and victims of domestic violence with the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence
• Over $600,000 to operate Lawyers for Justice, the Bar’s pro bono program, helping hundreds of people annually since 1989
• The annual Chester Professionalism Institute
• Capital University Law School Program for Advanced Dispute Resolution Education
• The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Clinic Pro Bono Partnership Child Representation Program
• Over $400,000 to the Center for Child and Family Advocacy at Children’s Hospital