The deadline to submit applications to the Initiative for Public Interest Law at Yale for one-year grants of up to $30,000 to be awarded in the summer of 2008 was February 1, 2008. Please check this website again in the fall for information on next year's grant application process. 

About the Initiative

The Initiative is a non-profit organization that provides start-up money for projects that protect the legal rights or interests of inadequately represented groups. The Initiative funds innovative projects that may have difficulty obtaining money from other sources due to the subject matter of the project or the approach taken by the project.  Please note that the Initiative seeks to fund individuals who are launching new projects, not to provide funding for ongoing work at existing organizations.  The Initiative will not fund any project that focuses on conducting academic research or serving the needs of an individual client.  Additionally, we will not fund a project for which the applicant will receive academic credit. We will consider proposals for work that will be performed outside the United States. We fund cutting-edge projects whose successful execution might be a model for other organizations seeking new and better ways to represent clients.

While the Initiative may choose to fund one project for the full $30,000 grant amount, in recent years, the Board has often chosen instead to award partial grants ranging from $9,000 to $21,000.

The Initiative conducts several activities every year to raise the money for these grants.  Annual fundraising events include the used book sale, the Public Interest Auction, and the Yale Law School Formal.  The Initiative also relies on donations from the legal community, Yale Law alumni, and Yale Law students to supplement its fundraising events.  Donations should be sent to P.O. Box 200100, New Haven, CT 06520, and checks should be made payable to "The Initiative for Public Interest Law at Yale." 

Selection Criteria

The most important selection criterion for projects is that they that protect the legal rights or interests of inadequately represented groups.  The Initiative generally funds projects on which the applicant will work full time, after graduation from law school.  Although a wide variety of projects are selected for funding, the Initiative gives priority to projects that:

• Might provide a model for similar projects around the country;
• Would be performed in coordination with a sponsoring organization;
• Could be completed in a single year, or that demonstrate potential to become self-supporting or to receive support from alternative sources within the year (we will also consider projects that can be completed in less than a year);
• Are submitted by graduates of Yale Law School;
• Would operate in the state of Connecticut.

Please note that the priority criteria are not requirements; for example, the Initiative has in the past funded proposals from non-Yale Law students, as well as projects that operate outside the state of Connecticut. 

Selection Process

Grant recipients are selected in a two-step process. In preparation for the first selection meeting, every member of the Initiative’s Board of Directors will read a one-page summary of each proposal and the entirety of approximately three or four applications, for which they will lead the discussion. At least two directors will read every application. Applicants are encouraged to write both an informative one-page summary and a persuasive proposal. A group of finalists is selected at the first meeting. Applicants will be notified of the status of their applications by e-mail no later than March 15, 2008.

Finalists selected at the initial meeting will be interviewed by the selection committee on Saturday, April 5 2008. You must participate in the final selection meeting in order to receive a grant. You may choose to come to New Haven (at your expense) on that day for your interview or to have the interview conducted by telephone. Traveling to New Haven will neither help nor hurt your proposal. Finalists will be notified of the Initiative’s decision by mid-April.

Questions about the Initiative in general or about the grant application and selection process should be directed to one of the Initiative’s student co-chairs: Geri Greenspan <geri.greenspan@yale.edu>, Marisol Orihuela <marisol.orihuela@yale.edu> or Emma Andersson <emma.andersson@yale.edu>.