The Access to Justice Fund Grants Program


The Access to Justice Fund (ATJF)

In July of 2009, the Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) was entrusted with monies as a result of the settlement in the class action lawsuit Cassano v. TD Bank. The LFO was directed to create a fund for the purpose of making grants in support of public access to justice in Canada. In accordance with the judicial order approving the settlement, the LFO has created the Access to Justice Fund (ATJF).

The Fund represents a significant source of funding for access to justice projects across Canada, and it comes at a critical time. Judges, academics, and service providers agree that access to justice is a vital component of a free and democratic society. However, for many members of marginalized groups and even for many middle class Canadians, legal information, assistance, and representation are difficult to access or out of reach entirely.

While the Cassano award represents the first cy-pres award the LFO has received in a class action, the LFO has a proven track record of efficient and transparent administration and more than thirty-five years of institutional experience in making grants. The Access to Justice Fund is a permanent fund that will be open to receiving cy-pres awards in the future.

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General Information about the ATJF Grants Program

The Law Foundation of Ontario is now accepting applications to the Access to Justice Fund from across Canada.



The Access to Justice Fund is open to applications from non-profit organizations from across Canada. It is not limited to organizations from Ontario or applications which benefit the people of Ontario. The proposed program or project may be local, regional, provincial, or national in scope. The LFO may also solicit grants in relation to the Fund’s thematic areas as an additional means of distributing the funds.


In making grants from the Access to Justice Fund, the Law Foundation of Ontario wishes to support significant, high-quality projects that have the potential to bring real improvements to the communities served, rather than a myriad of smaller projects.

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Eligibility

To be eligible to apply to the Access to Justice Fund, your proposal must support access to justice and:

  • address one or more of the themes of the Access to Justice Fund;
  • fit within the LFO’s mandate and be consistent with the LFO’s Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles; and
  • be a not-for-profit venture.

If your proposal meets these minimum requirements, please review all of the information in this section, including the Frequently Asked Questions, before contacting the LFO. If you still have questions that are not answered, feel free to call or email us.

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Access to Justice

Grants made from the Fund are to be used to support public access to justice. While the phrase “access to justice” cannot have a single meaning, it is closely linked to the promotion of equity, fairness, and the elimination of barriers to justice (whether physical, psychological, financial, or social). It can include access by low income or vulnerable persons to information, so that they can understand their options with respect to legal problems, and services, such as lawyers, community legal workers, or paralegals, so that they can act on those options or obtain legal representation.

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Themes of the Access to Justice Fund

The LFO has identified five themes as the focus for grants from the Fund: linguistic and rural access to justice; aboriginal access to justice; self help; family violence; and consumer rights. Applications to the Access to Justice Project must fall within one of the selected themes. The following examples may assist you in deciding whether a proposal falls within one of the themes of the Fund:

  • Linguistic and rural access to justice: projects aimed at addressing the pervasive barriers to legal information and services experienced by persons who do not speak English or French or who live in rural and remote areas.
  • Aboriginal access to justice: in particular, justice education programs for aboriginal students or public legal education programs about aboriginal issues.
  • Self help: projects intended to assist individuals to obtain legal information and referrals, learn about the court system and court procedures, locate and complete court forms, find out about legal advice and representation, and find alternatives to court.
  • Family violence: projects in relation to legal issues associated with domestic violence.
  • Consumer rights: projects in relation to consumers’ legal rights.
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ATJF Application Process

The LFO is now accepting applications from across Canada to the Access to Justice Fund. The Fund will remain open to applications for a one year period, until May 31, 2011. However, a single grant application may request more than one year of funding. For example, an applicant might apply for a grant to cover a two-year pilot project. There is no cap on the amount of money that may be sought in a single grant application.

The Access to Justice Fund is the product of a one time settlement award in a class action lawsuit. As a result, applications to the Fund for ongoing project funding or core funding for an organization will only be considered where the applicant can demonstrate that there is a strong likelihood of support by other funders upon the expiry of the Fund grant.

Applications to the Access to Justice Fund will be accepted in a two-stage process:

  1. At the first stage, the prospective applicant submits a Letter of Intent. The Letter of Intent can be submitted at any time prior to May 31, 2011. The Letter of Intent is a concise description of the proposed program or activity and the need for the program or activity.
  2. If the Board approves the Letter of Intent, the prospective applicant will be invited to submit a full Application. The full Application must be submitted to the Board within six weeks of the invitation to submit a full Application.

As part of this process, applicants are required to follow the LFO’s ATJF Application Form and Instructions, which specify what must be included in a Letter of Intent and a full Application, and to respond to any requests from LFO staff for additional information in a timely fashion.


Among many other considerations, the LFO will be looking for applications that demonstrate:

  • that the proposed work clearly fits within one or more of the themes of the Access to Justice Fund and is consistent with the LFO’s mandate, Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles;
  • that the applicant has the skills and experience to plan and carry out the project; and
  • that the applicant is ready to be fully accountable to the LFO for monies granted.
We encourage all applicants (especially first-time applicants) to contact LFO staff for advice on the application process. Once your Letter of Intent has been received, LFO staff may contact you for further information as part of the assessment process. The more that the LFO understands about your organization and your proposed program or project, the better assistance we can provide. However, LFO staff must remain impartial and cannot advocate on your behalf to the Board of Trustees. All granting decisions are made by the LFO’s Board of Trustees.

On occasion, grant applications may be sent to an outside expert for review on a confidential basis.

Please remember that there is no guarantee that your Letter of Intent or Application, if invited, will go forward on any specific Board meeting date.

Successful grant applicants will receive a Letter of Agreement containing the terms and conditions of the grant. In some cases, other terms and conditions may be added to the grant. The Letter of Agreement forthe particular grant will also reflect these additional terms and conditions.


We recommend that you review the terms of the Letter of Agreement before you submit a Letter of Intent.

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Guiding Principles

  1. The Foundation exists to benefit the people of Ontario in Canada and the world.
  2. The Foundation addresses social and economic issues through its support of programs that increase access to justice.
  3. The Foundation encourages excellence in the legal profession.
  4. The Foundation is committed to enhancing the public’s experience with the law.
  5. The Foundation enables organizations that have the capacity to play a leadership role by being vibrant, progressive, and self-critical; and is interested in work that over time will be regenerative.
  6. The Foundation encourages collaboration in pursuit of access to justice: by itself partnering with others; through actively promoting partnerships among grantees; and by supporting collaboration between the legal profession and the public at large.
  7. The Foundation encourages and promotes new thinking about current and emerging legal issues.
  8. The Foundation supports non-commercial and not-for-profit activity.
  9. The Foundation values learning, transparency and accountability, both in its own work and in that of the organizations it supports.
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Acknowledging a Grant from the Access to Justice Fund

Please see the For Grantees section for more information on acknowledging a grant from the Access to Justice Fund.

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Access to Justice Project Grants

In addition to the application process described above, the LFO may employ a specialized process in a particular thematic area of the Access to Justice Fund from time to time, including soliciting grant applications for certain thematic areas of the Fund.

The Connecting Project is one example of a specialized process that was recently employed by the LFO.

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ATJF Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Eligibility to Apply
Do we have to be a registered charity in order to apply for a grant?
No, you need only be non-profit corporation, university or community college. If you are a non-profit with charitable status, please include your registered charity number on your application.
Can an individual apply for a grant, e.g. for research?
No, applications need to be made by a non-profit organization, a university or a community college.
Can an unincorporated committee apply for a grant?
Yes, if administration of the grant can be done through an appropriate accountability structure, e.g. through a law firm in trust, or an incorporated non-profit.
Can an organization outside Ontario apply for a grant from the Access to Justice Fund?
Organizations outside Ontario can apply for a grant from the Access to Justice Fund.
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Application Process
Is there a limit on the number of applications we can make to the Law Foundation?
We recommend that you submit one application per project.
Is there a fixed cap on the amount that can be sought in an application to the Access to Justice Fund?
No.
Do I need to submit a Letter of Intent regardless of the amount being sought?
Yes.
Does a proposed project have to benefit more than one geographic community?
Applications to the Access to Justice Fund program may provide a benefit to a community or region anywhere in Canada. They may be local, regional, provincial, or national in scope.
Do you have a fixed amount of available funding that is allocated to specific geographic regions?
For applications to the Access to Justice Fund program, there is no fixed amount of funding allocated to specific geographic regions within Canada. One objective of the Access to Justice Fund program is to fund projects from across Canada. The LFO’s Board of Trustees may have regard to the geographical distribution of the plaintiffs in the Cassano case when assessing applications to the Access to Justice Fund.
Can we apply to the Access to Justice Fund for projects that will last longer than a year?
Yes, you can apply for projects that will last longer than a year.
Do you require an applicant to find funding from other sources?
We encourage partnerships with other funders but it is not a requirement. We encourage all applicants to contribute in-kind services.
If we have identified other potential funders for our project idea, do you require us to provide confirmation of their commitment before you will consider our application to you?
No, you do not need to have a commitment from your other funder(s), but you should indicate in your application to us which other funder(s) you are approaching, the amount you are requesting from them, and the status of your application to them.
Do you require an applicant to have other partners involved in the implementation of the project?
No, an applicant can apply as the sole project implementer. However, we like to encourage community partnerships and networking, so if your project idea lends itself well to such partnerships, we encourage you to look into those possibilities.

If, in your application, you indicate the intent to partner with another community organization, you should include a written statement of commitment from the partner(s).
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Eligible Costs
What type of programs will you fund?
The Foundation will consider time-limited proposals to fund pilot projects, ongoing project funding, or core funding for an organization. Since the Access to Justice Fund is the product of a one time settlement award in a class action lawsuit, applications to the Fund for ongoing project funding or core funding for an organization will only be considered where an applicant can demonstrate that there is a strong likelihood of support by other funders upon the expiry of the Fund grant.
Will you fund core operating costs associated with a project? If so, do you fund on the basis of a set percentage of total project costs?
Yes, we will fund core operating costs if they can be shown to be directly related to the project. Rather than cover such costs on the basis of a flat percentage, we prefer to fund on the basis of actual need, so your application should demonstrate the connection between the project and the expense.
I understand that the Foundation will not fund capital expenditures. Are office furniture or computer equipment considered to be capital expenditures?
We will not fund capital expenditures for immoveable assets (i.e., buildings). Usually, applicant organizations will be expected to include equipment or office furniture expenses as in-kind contributions. In addition, modifications to accommodate a project employee with a disability may also be eligible.
We are developing an idea for a large project, one component of which we think might fall within the mandate of the Access to Justice Fund. Can we apply to the Foundation for just that portion of the project?
Yes.
We are developing an application for a large project that would be piloted over two years. To help us secure future funding, evaluation results showing the pilot to be successful would be extremely helpful. Can we include the cost of an evaluation in our application to the Law Foundation for seed funding?
Yes.
We heard that the LFO wants applicants to evaluate the effectiveness of the projects that receive grants. We’re a small non-profit and don’t have the resources or expertise to do evaluations. Can this expense be included in the application?
Yes, the cost of evaluation is an eligible project expense because we believe evaluation results are of value not just to the LFO but also can help grantees to improve the program and in seeking out other funding sources. Remember, too, that an evaluation does not need to be an expensive, time-consuming undertaking. The evaluation plan should be commensurate with the size and nature of the project being funded.
We would like to apply for a grant for a conference―what costs are eligible for LFO funding?
The following kinds of costs would be considered normal for a conference event:
  • Venue
  • Audio-visual equipment, including webcasts
  • Basic catering
  • Travel and accommodation expenses for speakers (at economy rates)
  • Travel subsidies to enable students, low-income registrants, or representatives from community organizations to attend the event
  • Translation
  • Development and printing of conference materials
  • Promotion of the event
  • Coordination of participant registrations
  • Development and dissemination of conference proceedings

If you have other expenses that may be incurred, you should consult with LFO staff before including them in your grant application.
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University/College Applications
I am a faculty member and would like to apply to you for a research project. Does my application have to be submitted by the university, or can I submit it directly to you?
You can submit your application to us directly or through your school (whether university or college). However, if you submit your application to us directly, we request that you include confirmation that your department/faculty head is aware of your application.
I am a university researcher and am working on a book on a legal issue. Can I apply to the LFO for funding to cover my research and writing costs?
The LFO does not fund individual books.
In order to carry out this research project, I will need two course releases. Can I include the cost of a replacement instructor to cover my course releases?
Because teaching is a core responsibility of any university, we will not fund course releases. However, we will fund other expenses associated with the proposed research, including the hiring of students as research assistants.
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After a Grant Application is Approved
Our grant application has been approved – what happens next?
You will be asked to review and sign a standard Letter of Agreement (posted on this website), which may also have special conditions added that are specific to your grant. In general, the first instalment is paid soon after receipt of the signed Letter of Agreement, and remaining instalments are paid in accordance with the schedule drawn up to suit your particular project.
What is the payment schedule?
The payment schedule is developed in consultation with the grantee. In general, the LFO makes payments in advance, in accordance with each grantee’s needs, and subject to any special conditions of approval being met. The Foundation makes every effort to accommodate special requirements (for instance, where significant expenses have to be incurred at an early stage of the project).

For all projects, the final payment is a small hold-back instalment that is paid out on receipt of the final report.
What are your reporting requirements?
Reporting requirements are tailored to the circumstances of each project. All grantees are required to submit budget-to-actual financial reports. In addition, grantees may be asked to submit interim progress reports. All grantees are required to submit a final report in order to receive payment of the final grant instalment. Instalment payments are always conditional upon receipt of required reports, in accordance with the schedule established between the Foundation and the grantee.
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