Please read through the following sections carefully. The Alberta Law Foundation Funding Policies provide important details about:
The Foundation will not provide funding to or for the following purposes:
a) Individuals;
b) Commercial entities;
c) International projects, except in exceptional circumstances;
d) Endowment grants, except in exceptional circumstances;
e) Political lobbies;
f) Programs of government departments or salaries of government employees;
g) Professional development activities for third party lawyers and judges which would otherwise fall under the mandate of the Law Society, the Canadian Bar Association, the government or similar;
h) Cost of an application for funding to a third party;
i) Offsetting previously incurred deficits, except in exceptional circumstances;
j) Purchase of buildings, except in exceptional circumstances;
k) Purchase or lease of vehicles, unless integral to the delivery of a program or project funded by the Foundation;
l) Any expenses that are already being paid by the Foundation through a different grant;
m) Legal advice if the organization does not hold Approved Legal Service Provider status through the Law Society of Alberta;
n) Program or course development costs at colleges, universities and school boards, which should be the normal duty of the professor or instructor; and
o) Sending delegates to conferences, including travel to attend conferences outside Alberta, unless for the professional development of staff or volunteers involved in the delivery of programs for projects funded by the Foundation.
a) The proposed program or project must fall within the Foundation’s objects, as interpreted by the Foundation.
b) An application must be completed that addresses the Foundation’s grant and evaluation criteria.
c) Grant applications will be considered by the Board at regularly scheduled Board meetings unless the Board decides otherwise, or unless approved by express authority as delegated.
d) Applicants for funding must generally be incorporated as a non-profit entity, be a First Nation or Band Council.
e) All grants are made subject to the availability of funds.
f) As a condition of funding, organizations may be required to provide audited or board approved financial statements for the organization applying for a grant and for each fiscal period falling within a grant term as part of the reporting requirements.
g) Grant applications must include a specific budget for the project or program for which funding is requested, as well as a global budget showing the allocation of the Foundation funding and other funding of the organization. There must be a supportable rationale for the manner in which administration and overhead costs are allocated to programs to be funded by the Foundation.
h) A request for wraparound social services support must clearly contribute to a legal outcome.
i) The Foundation reserves the right to review such other information about the program, project or the applicant or funded organization deemed relevant to the assessment or management of the grant.
j) Grantees are required to sign the Foundation’s grant agreement and adhere to the terms and conditions as outlined.
k) The Foundation reserves the right to have a grantee’s books and records audited in whole or in part by an independent auditor to verify expenditures of Foundation grant funds claimed by the grantee to have been made in accordance with a program or project grant budget approved by the Foundation.
l) Meals, beverages and hospitality expenses will be considered if needed to meet program objectives and/or cultural components of programming.
m) All funded conferences must be open to the general public.
n) Direct legal services must be delivered in alignment with the rules of the Law Society of Alberta and the Courts.
o) Members of any university faculty and organizations associated with a university faculty, which do not have a Board of Directors, must submit their projects through the faculty Dean.
p) Materials created with funding from the Foundation must be made available to the public free of charge or may be sold on a nominal or cost recovery basis only.
q) The Foundation funds only law libraries which are accessible by the public.
r) Prior to publication, all public legal education and information materials produced with funding from the Foundation must be critically reviewed for legal accuracy and completeness by a recognized authority in the relevant field of practice. In the case of artificial intelligence generated materials, notification must be given to the reader about the limitations of the document.
s) National programs or projects administered outside of Alberta must demonstrate a clear direct benefit to Albertans and have a commitment of funding from their own province’s or territory’s (or equivalent) law foundation, or at least their strong written support, and are expected to seek out funding from other sources in proportion to the national scope of their activities and impact.
t) Public legal education should focus on the laws of Alberta or the laws applicable in Alberta, and topics should be legal in nature and relate to legal issues faced by vulnerable individuals.
In reviewing grant applications, in addition to the general governance structure of the applicant organization, factors that the Foundation will consider include the following:
a) Meeting one or more of the Foundation’s objects;
b) Evidence of need for the program or service/why it is a priority;
c) Capacity/expertise of the applicant to complete the project or deliver the project or program;
d) Lack of duplication of existing services, unless otherwise justified;
e) A strong workplan outlining the program delivery plan and the activities to be undertaken;
f) A clearly identified target audience;
g) An evaluation plan to measure progress toward achieving the intended outcomes of the program or project and identifiable deliverables/outputs;
h) Value proposition of the proposed services;
i) Level of collaboration and community support (strategic partnerships);
j) Financial health of the organization as evidenced by financial statements and a sustainability plan; and
k) Leveraging of volunteer or pro bono lawyer time, where appropriate.
