The Rhode Island Bar Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2024 Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) grants. The grants must be used to help disadvantaged Rhode Islanders gain access to legal representation, to improve the delivery of legal services, to promote knowledge and awareness of the law, or to improve the administration of justice.
Disbursements from the IOLTA Program are made available to organizations assisting low-income individuals with housing, income maintenance, and other consumer issues. The IOLTA Program funds critical services in Rhode Island communities. Through IOLTA grants, thousands of our most vulnerable residents receive free or low-cost civil legal services.
Other IOLTA disbursements are awarded to organizations and projects which strengthen local communities such as assisting victims of domestic violence, helping persons with disabilities obtain housing, helping the homeless with legal matters and government benefits, and providing community education on legal rights and responsibilities in consumer credit and other areas.
IOLTA Program income is interest earned through law firm client deposits being placed into special interest-bearing accounts, which would not otherwise earn interest. The Rhode Island Bar Foundation has awarded more than $25 million since the IOLTA program began in 1985. IOLTA grants currently range from $4,000 to $224,276.
For more information and to access the Application, please click here.
All proposals should be submitted by email to Theresa Gallo at tgallo@ribar.com or mailed to the Rhode Island Bar Foundation, Attn: Theresa Gallo, 41 Sharpe Drive, Cranston, RI 02920, by Thursday, October 19, 2023.