LFW has invested in organizations fighting for civil justice in Washington State since 1984, and currently provides over $15 million a year in grants for direct civil legal aid and systemic advocacy.
Our grantmaking brings this vision to life by targeting inequalities in the civil legal system, where people seeking justice in a wide variety of cases — including immigration, worker rights, housing, and domestic violence — are not entitled to a lawyer and left to navigate complex systems by themselves.
We know that creating fair access to civil justice requires undoing systemic racial oppression. We reflect racial justice and inclusion in all of our grantmaking. We are committed to long-term systemic change and commit more than half of our funding to impact litigation and policy reform that advances rights for people living in poverty.
LFW uses an equity analysis in evaluating grant applications and making award decisions.
Racial equity in the civil legal system is essential to LFW’s vision of “justice for all.” As a foundation, we play a unique role in advancing this work forward. The system of philanthropy and grantmaking has power to resource communities or deepen inequities with their decisions. This is why LFW is committed to applying a race equity lens to all of our practices, grant analysis, and allocation of resources. We have been building our race equity analysis over several years and are committed to long-term improvements —and we realize we still have a lot of work to do.