The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1999, pursuant to the Illinois Equal Justice Act (30 ILCS 765/1 et. seq.).  The IEJF supports initiatives to increase Illinois residents’ access to the legal system.  The IEJF is funded through a state appropriation housed in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

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The IEJF is listed at $1.75 million in the FY 12 budget passed by the General Assembly.  The bill awaits Governor Quinn’s signature. It should be noted that the IEJF received its FY 2011 appropriation in April, eight months into the grant year.  We cannot provide an accurate timeline for the distribution of FY 12 grant awards.

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• Legal Information for the Public
• Self Help Legal Assistance Projects
  
• Mediation Services
• Telephone Advice & Referral Services
• Civil Legal Assistance

An organization may apply for funds in more than one category.  Organizations seeking support for more than one of the five purposes must submit a separate application for each category.

At its discretion, the Board may also request proposals from non-profit organizations to conduct research, training and technical assistance regarding legal information for the public, mediation, telephone advice and referral services and/or civil legal assistance.

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Organizations are eligible to apply for a grant from the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation if they:

• Are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;
• Provide services to Illinois residents in one or more of the five areas set forth in the “Purposes” section.  To determine if a particular project qualifies for a grant, see the specific guidelines for each of the five categories noted above. 
• Provide services to low-income people free of charge or on a sliding scale based on income.  Low-income is defined as a household income of up to 150% of the federal poverty guidelines.  Applicants who charge fees for their legal services are required to provide the IEJF with a copy of their fee schedule.  Legal information for the public, self-help legal assistance and mediation  services, however, must be provided free of charge.

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• Funds appropriated by the Illinois General Assembly, including funds distributed by the IEJF, may not be spent on a sectarian purpose.
• Said funds may not be used for the purpose of lobbying; encouraging political activities, labor or anti-labor activities, boycotts, picketing, strikes or demonstrations; or investigative or legal compliance activities related to a pending dispute.
• A recipient may not use funds received under the Illinois Equal Justice Act to file an individual action or class action under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act or other labor laws.
• No more than 10% of grants awarded by the IEJF can be used for overhead costs.  Failure to abide by this may jeopardize future funding from the IEJF.

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The grant period will be September 1, 2011 – August 31, 2012, and the application and review process will follow this schedule:

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Ideally, grant payments will be disbursed in December, March and June.  However, distribution of funds is contingent on the timely receipt of the funds from the state by the IEJF.  The state has experienced severe cash flow difficulties the past three years which has negatively impacted IEJF grant distribution.   Applicants must assess whether their organization can accept a grant under such payment timeline uncertainty.

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• Demonstrated need for the proposed services.
• Applicant’s experience in providing said service, as indicated by the experience levels and qualifications of key staff and the numbers of persons served in prior years.
• Efficient service delivery which takes into consideration factors such as the relative costs of the applicant’s services; cooperation and coordination with other entities to avoid duplication of effort; the use of volunteers; and the use of technology to increase access to services and to maximize productivity.
• Sound organizational management, including indices such as the fiscal health of the sponsoring organization; realistic income and expense budgets for the project; and evidence of active involvement and oversight by a qualified advisory board and/or board of directors. 
• Performance under previous Illinois Equal Justice Foundation grants. For organizations that received grants in fiscal year 2011 and are seeking a renewal, information on how the grant is being used, what services are being provided and if/how the funds increased the capacity of the organization.

Grant requests will be evaluated on the factors listed above, the criteria listed under each funding category as well as those outlined in the Illinois Equal Justice Act.
                                 
The IEJF is committed to equitable salaries for legal aid providers and encourages applicants to develop a reasonable pay scale, training and support program for its personnel to ensure that client services are not interrupted by unplanned staff turnover. 

The IEJF subscribes to Illinois Nonprofit Principles and Best Practices and encourages applicants to strive to adopt the Best Practices pertinent to their organization. The Best Practices were developed by the Donors Forum of Illinois, endorsed by the Illinois Attorney General and available at http://www.donorsforum.org/publictrust/principles.html.

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Application and Reporting Requirements
All grantees must submit a brief mid-term report on their activities on or by March 31, 2012.  The IEJF will provide a report form.  Grantees must state whether or not they can spend the grant funds in the time and manner allocated in this report.  All funds must be expended by August 31, 2012. The IEJF reserves the right to re-grant funds if deemed necessary.

A detailed final report will be due on or by September 30, 2012.  The IEJF will provide a report form. Failure to submit reports in a timely manner may jeopardize future IEJF funding.

Applications – including the cover page, proposal narrative, summary and all attachments – must be submitted electronically by August 15, 2011. 

• Application procedures and forms will be available by June 30, 2011 at www.iejf.org under the Grants tab. 
• All submissions should be directed to Leslie Corbett at lcorbett@iejf.org. 
• A second copy of the full application(s) should be sent to Vlad Dovijarov at vlad@ltf.org. 
• If for some reason you cannot submit everything electronically, please notify us and we will work with you.

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Draft approved by the Grant Committee, May 23, 2011.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD May 25 – June 15, 2011.       
Final criteria approved by the Board of Directors, June 28, 2011.

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