Tom Woods
Cummins Woods
The Ingham County Bar Foundation began in 2002 as an IRC 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization to enable lawyers and others to join in an effort to provide access to justice, expand legal services to the public, promote legal education, and safeguard the honor and integrity of the profession of law.
The Foundation is funded through contributions, memberships, sponsorships, the Annual Golf Outing, and frequent Judges Retirement Dinners.
The Foundation has made more than 50 grants to worthy nonprofit organizations with a common thread: each shares the Foundation’s goals of improving the administration of justice, ensuring that legal services are made available to the public in nondiscriminatory ways, and educating members of the public about their legal rights and obligations.
The Friends of the Veterans’ Treatment Court assist veterans in the criminal justice system find help they need including employment, education, stable housing, and substance abuse and mental health treatment, all with the goal of reducing recidivism. The Friends also provide mentors for veterans who have been in the system.
Small Talk Children’s Assessment Center is leading the community in addressing child abuse and empowering children to develop the courage to heal. Its grant is used to provide a comfortable child-friendly atmosphere during the interviewing process and therapy to every child at no cost.
The Ingham County Sobriety Court Foundation supports the four Ingham County Sobriety Courts, 54-A District Court in Lansing, 54-B in East Lansing, 55th District Court in the rest of Ingham County, and the 30th Circuit Court, in meeting essential personal needs of participants that are unmet by the Courts’ limited resources.
The Foundation also supports annually the City of Lansing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, sponsors projects of the Ingham County Bar Association including the Young Lawyers, and the Davis Dunnings Bar Association.
“Extending Your Influence” is the Foundation’s ongoing campaign that challenges lawyers and other members of the community to build up the Foundation’s Endowment to permanently assure the Foundation’s ability to achieve its purposes and extend its influence.
The Foundation has a Memorial Fund honoring deceased lawyers that will eventually sponsor lectures, workshops, and conferences in their names. The Foundation encourages lawyers to make gifts to the Endowment Fund and to suggest to their clients that they also consider contributing as part of gifting strategies. In this way, we all can “Extend Our Influence.”
