OBF Community Fellow affiliates include Oklahoma Bar Association Sections and Committees, County Bar Associations, Law Firms and Law Offices, IOLTA Banks, corporations and other businesses of all types across Oklahoma that come together to play a vital role in the Oklahoma Bar Foundation’s mission of helping to promote justice, funding critical legal services and advancing public awareness of the law.

The Foundation honors these important affiliate groups that further advance this mission through annual membership in the OBF Community Fellow Program.  Your group’s membership demonstrates a full commitment to a range of support for law-related services throughout the State.  OBA Community Fellow members unite with more than 1,700 individual lawyer Fellow members, not including countless hours of pro bono service, in support of the cause providing funding for:

  • Free legal assistance for the poor and elderly
  • Safe haven for the abused
  • Protection and legal assistance for children
  • Public law-related education programs, including programs for school children
  • Other activities that improve the quality of justice for all Oklahomans

While we are all asked to support a number of worthy causes throughout the year, we need to make a more concerted effort to ensure that everyone has basic access to the justice system and our youth are educated about the rule of law.  This work doesn’t get a lot of attention but is vitally needed.  With the increasing challenges to achieving these goals resulting from the economic down turn and the growing need for even more services, our role in the cause has never been more important.  To that end, the OBF Community Fellows Program is intended to embody best practices for business and corporate giving, including law firms and lawyers.  The program underscores the integral role affiliate groups have in ensuring equal access to our justice system and the importance of public law-related education.  Investing to help low-income people solve their legal problems and the education of youth about the rule of law is smart, results oriented philanthropy.

A dedicated group of legal aid attorneys and pro bono volunteers coupled with other law-related nonprofits provide vital law-related services to thousands of our most vulnerable Oklahomans.  However, due to lack of adequate funding and the growing need for these services, tens of thousands of less fortunate Oklahomans continue to lack basic access to legal assistance and other law-related services, often critical to their safety and independence.  Thousands more are forced to try to solve often complex legal problems on their own.  The gap has widened even further with the recent economic downturn.  The expanding gap is unacceptable.  The OBF Community Fellow Program underscores the commitment of affiliate groups to reverse this trend.

While our affiliate groups may support a variety of charitable initiatives, OBF Community Fellows reflect the importance of the justice system and the united power we have to make a real difference in Oklahoma by helping to transform lives for the better through legal means and avenues.  Help the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and individual Fellow members by becoming a member of the OBF Community Fellow Program today.  Be a powerful ally and make an impact through this important group benevolent program of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation.

Become an OBF Community Fellow

Choose from three tiers of OBF Community Fellow support to pledge your group’s help:

  • Patron:    $2,500 or more per year
  • Partner:     $1,000 – $2,499 per year
  • Supporter:   $250 – $999 per year

Why Choose the Oklahoma Bar Foundation?

  • OBF is the primary grant-making organization in Oklahoma supporting   law-related services and education
  • OBF enables lawyers, law firms and affiliate groups to do charitable works and activities for exclusively public purposes with tax-exempt status
  • OBF provides a funding umbrella for many diverse law-related programs making your charitable giving easy
  • OBF supports causes that lawyers, law firms and affiliates are passionate about
  • OBF provides a layer of oversight monitored by an extremely talented team of lawyers with varied backgrounds
  • OBF is a qualified IRS Code 501(c)(3) philanthropic organization with a proven 67 year record of service
  • OBF is the third oldest bar foundation in the Nation, the Oklahoma standard
  • 27 different programs received support affecting more than 90,000 Oklahomans this past year alone
  • Grant dollars were compounded by some 3,000 pro bono volunteers
  • OBF provides a powerful tool that can increase the impact of affiliates’ support, while it empowers Oklahomans in need to have a more equal shot at deserved justice to meet basic needs, promote dignity and stability in their lives, and helps to build a bridge out of poverty

OBF Community Fellow Benefits

  • Honored with a beautiful OBF Community Fellow Plaque
  • Honored recognition in periodic Listings of Community Fellows and the OBF Website
  • Invitations to various OBF events
  • Opportunity to take a more active role in helping the neediest Oklahomans find more permanent solutions to the issues impacting them and their families
  • The ability to help several diverse law-related endeavors through one convenient donation
  • Annual mailings and tax receipts