From the Foundation
Your Foundation at Work By Aaron Bulloff
Aaron Bulloff is a long-tenured FBA and National Council Member who has held numerous Chapter and National positions. He is a Charter Life Member of the Foundation’s Fellows and in 2015 received the Earl Kintner Award.
In my first column, I discussed what the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association is. In this column, I discuss part of what the Foundation does. Simply put, the Foundation does three things: It attracts funds to add to its corpus, it invests those funds, and it disseminates some of its funds in support of its mission. I shall write about the first two aspects in future columns; this column focuses on the third. Before the start of each fiscal year, the Foundation board votes upon a budget for the upcoming 12 months. For the last few years, that budget reflected a prudent amount for mission support from a foundation sized at approximately $900,000-$1,000,000. In the last two years, sizable contributions from the Federal Bar Building Corp. substantially increased the financial picture of the Foundation. Like everyone else, however, the Foundation incurred investment losses in 2022—it presently hovers in the $1.6 million to $1.75 million range, depending upon market fluctuations. At that quantum level, the Foundation was able to make a significant impact in the last year.
The Known Past Continued Support The Foundation continued to fund and present four annual public service awards at the FBA’s National Convention. They are the Ilene and Michael Shaw Public Service Award, the Ilene and Michael Shaw Younger Lawyer Public Service Grant, the Elaine R. “Boots” Fisher Award, and the Peter J. Mazza Outstanding Federal Lawyer Award. The recipients are selected by committee review of nominations. • Th e Shaw Public Service Award, in the amount of $10,000, was awarded to the South Carolina Chapter for its “Civics Day” program. • The Shaw Younger Lawyer Grant, in the amount of $10,000, was awarded to the Massachusetts Chapter for its “Annual Bill of Rights Student Essay Contest.” • The “Boots” Fisher Award, in the amount of $1,000 donated to a charity of the recipient’s choice, was awarded to Betty Stevens, an FBA member in Northern Virginia. • The Mazza Award, in the amount of $500 donated to a charity of the recipient’s choice, was awarded 12 • THE FEDERAL LAWYER • Winter 2023
to Barbara Bowens, an AUSA in the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Foundation continued to support the annual Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition held each spring, and co-sponsored—with the Federal Judges Association—the Civics Essay and Video Contest for high school students. This year’s contest asked “In light of the First Amendment, what type of social media posts should schools be allowed to punish as cyberbullying?” The Foundation hosted the trips of essay winner Evan Hsiang from Corpus Christi, Texas, and video winner Paola Perez from Palmetto Bay, Florida, to the awards ceremony held at the Federal Judges Association Quadrennial Conference in Washington, where the students met Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Stephen Breyer.
Grants Two Foundation committees review applications for Chapter Community Outreach Grants and Diversity Grants. Each committee has an annual budget in determining what grant applications to recommend semi-annually to the Foundation Board of Directors for a vote to accept or decline. The Foundation board funded six Chapter Community Outreach Grants and 15 Diversity Grants. Outreach Grants went to: • Eastern District of Michigan Chapter: “Chapter Mission Fulfillment through Youth Outreach” • Kansas and Western District of Missouri Chapter: “FBA Civics and Diversity Summer Reading Contest” (a second grant for the creation of its civics and outreach videos) • San Diego Chapter: “Pathways to a Federal Career: Mentoring the Next Generation” • San Joaquin Valley Chapter: “Law Day Yosemite 2022” • South Florida Chapter: “Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions Program” Diversity Grants went to: • Broward County Chapter: “DEI Summit & Reception” • Civil Rights Section: “Civil Rights FBA Diversity