Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York and Legal Services of Central New York- 050026
Abstract Number: 050026
January 2006
The Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York (LASMNY) and Legal Services of Central New York (LASCNY) raised $225,262 over a two-year period to purchase a voice over-IP telephone system to launch the Central New York Legal HelpLine, a centralized intake system linking eight offices together. LASMNY and LASCNY serve a largely rural population with one medium sized city (Syracuse) and two small cities (Binghamton and Utica). In raising this money, these two programs worked with small community foundations with small giving caps ranging from $5000 to $20,000 who typically funded projects for a geographical area much smaller than their service area. For example, several community foundations funded projects for only one county or the counties immediately surrounding the location of the foundation whereas LASMNY and LSCNY served 13 counties.
To overcome these challenges and raise money for their new intake system, these two programs sought funding for the project from local foundations in proportion to the poverty populations in the foundation's service area. This approach proved to be very successful and led to funding from 10 different sources in amounts ranging from $5,900 to $52,000. LASMNY and LASCNY created the attached tips for technology fundraising.
Contact Information:
Robert Salzman Executive Director Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York 255 Genesee Street, 2nd Floor Utica, NY 13501 Phone: (315) 732-2131 Fax: (315) 732-3202 Email
LSC:
America's Partner for Equal Justice 