History
The centralized fundraising effort is premised on the fact that people living in poverty, regardless of geography, deserve equitable access to justice. More support from the legal community will greatly impact the number of resources available for both regional and statewide legal aid programs.
Michigan’s ATJ Campaign was one of the first statewide campaigns in the nation dedicated to raising resources for civil legal aid to qualifying residents. Over time, the campaign fell significantly behind most states in donations per attorney for legal aid.
In 2017, the Michigan legal community ranked 44th in the nation for per attorney giving to civil legal aid. At that time, the average giving rate to civil legal aid was $25 per attorney. The national average was $75 per attorney, and states with a centralized campaign for access to justice raised $126 per attorney.
Prior to a centralized model, the ATJ Campaign’s distribution was not solely based on increasing resources for service providers across the state. The centralized Campaign was created as a one stop shop for the Michigan legal community to support civil legal aid throughout Michigan.
With guidance from the Steering Committee, the ATJ Campaign redesigned how to best increase resources for civil legal aid programs so that they can serve more clients.
The ATJ Campaign became a centralized fundraising effort that distributes funds based on poverty populations and statewide services provided. The new model is based on successful centralized campaigns from around the country.
The centralized campaign was officially launched on July 1, 2018.