SeniorLAW Center Receives $1.25 Million Growth Grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to Make Strategic Growth Vision a Reality
SeniorLAW Center, the only nonprofit law organization in Pennsylvania exclusively and wholly dedicated to protecting the legal rights of older people, will receive $1.25 million in flexible support over five years to increase the number of clients for whom it provides direct legal representation.
July 17, 2024
On Tuesday, July 16th, The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) announced that they awarded three grants to Philadelphia-area nonprofit organizations that are working to improve the lives of older residents. According to Pew, these grants help “local social services organizations expand their reach and impact in the Philadelphia region and implement promising solutions to emerging problems or gaps in service delivery.”
SeniorLAW Center was honored to be awarded a 5-Year, $1.25 Million growth grant. Growth grants are awarded to organizations in the Philadelphia region with a proven track record of overall service excellency consisting of strong program outcomes, solid leadership and management, financial health, operational viability, commitment to use of data for evaluation and learning, and an ambitious vision to have a positive impact on an important community need.
SeniorLAW Center is also proud to be the first legal services organization to receive a Pew growth grant, representing profound confidence in SeniorLAW Center’s leadership in the Philadelphia legal nonprofit community and the importance of civil legal aid services to the older, low-income and diverse communities SeniorLAW Center serves.
“We are proud to partner with The Pew Charitable Trusts to help make our vision of strategic growth a reality,” said Executive Director, Karen C. Buck, Esq. “Since 1978, SeniorLAW Center has specialized in delivering critical and life-changing legal services to hundreds of thousands of Philadelphia’s most vulnerable residents who merit our collective attention for the contributions they’ve made to this country and their families and communities. Pew’s investment will ensure that we have the organizational capacity and structures in place to strengthen our impact and presence to improve access to justice for older people as our population continues to age and as older people face poverty, ageism, abuse, homelessness and injustice in shocking numbers.”
Over the next 5 years, this targeted investment will be used to help expand SeniorLAW Center’s reach and impact in 3 specific areas: evaluating and improving our intake systems to enhance client experience, scaling our development and communications structures, and assessing data evaluation and outcome measurement to ensure programmatic excellence. This grant includes a business planning process to help design a roadmap to achieve the vision of expansion and reach through the chosen initiatives.
This growth vision and grant builds upon significant growth SeniorLAW Center experienced over the last 5 years. Since 2020, SeniorLAW Center has seen a 65% increase in their budget which represents hundreds of additional older people served each year. To maintain this growth, SeniorLAW Center must continue to raise critical funds which allows their legal teams to serve thousands of older people each year. While the Pew investment will strengthen our infrastructure and build capacity for growth, SeniorLAW Center still relies on the generous support of individuals, foundations, and corporations to deliver specialized, trauma-informed legal services for immensely underserved populations. We believe the Pew partnership reflects SeniorLAW Center’s legacy as a strong, dynamic and vital organization ripe for additional investment to make powerful impact.
To learn more about The Pew Charitable Trusts’ most recent grants, read the press release on their website.