IT'S AN UNFORTUNATE reality that federal funding for worthwhile programs is limited - and unreliable. One of the challenges in funding legal services organizations is finding a dependable, stable and ample source of such funding.

In an effort to meet this challenge, the NH Bar Foundation at its annual dinner this summer kicked off the new "Campaign for Legal Services," an initiative to substantially expand private support for legal aid in NH. The Campaign's goal is to raise at least $750,000 over a three-year period from the New Hampshire legal community in support of the state's legal services organizations - New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA), the Legal Advice and Referral Center (LARC) and the NH Bar's Pro Bono program. The Campaign began with an impressive start - 13 firms pledged pacesetter gifts of $500 per attorney for each of the three years, for a total of over $300,000.

Two recent examples of unreliable federal funding demonstrate the need for NH's lawyers to build on this support of the Campaign and do their part in creating a dependable source of private funding for the state's legal services organizations.

NHLA has been successful in recent years in winning grants from federal entities. In 1998, it applied for and received a competitive demonstration grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging to set up a statewide telephone legal hotline for senior citizens. The grant amounted to $102,000 per year over a three-year period. With this grant, NHLA was able to create the Senior Legal Advice Line, which provides telephone advice and counsel from trained attorneys and provides referrals to elders who need representation or document preparation. The Advice Line works closely with the Bar Association's Elder Law Section, Pro Bono program and Lawyer Referral program, as well as with the NH Division of Elderly and Adult Services and Service links, the statewide network of local resource centers for seniors.

In 1999, NHLA, in collaboration with Franklin Pierce Law Center, the Bar's Pro Bono program and the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, applied for and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to provide legal representation for victims of domestic violence. The program was designed to give NHLA the ability to take cases that could not be handled by the Bar's Pro Bono or Domestic Violence Emergency (DOVE) programs or the local crisis centers, and to continue to strengthen Pro Bono and DOVE. This grant amounted to $178,000 per year over a three-year period.

Both programs were carefully coordinated with the private bar and community social service agencies to maximize their impact. By all accounts, both are enormously successful - easing the plight of many of our less fortunate citizens - and greatly appreciated by the community and the bar.

When the time came to renew these programs, however, federal authorities opted not to continue to fund New Hampshire's successful ongoing programs, but to instead award grants to other organizations elsewhere in the country to create similar programs. Suddenly, the two NH initiatives were without funding. The state stepped in on a short-term basis and found funds to support the Senior Advice Line for one more year, but it is unlikely that such funding will continue, especially in this difficult fiscal climate. The stop-and-go effect of this funding is disruptive and demoralizing to staff and clients alike.

These setbacks underscore the challenges in funding legal services organizations. While these organizations want, and will continue to apply for, federal funds to expand services to our low-income citizens, such funding is notoriously fickle and cannot be relied upon for long-term financial support of core services. IOLTA funds, although affected by economic swings, are far more stable, but they alone are insufficient to meet the needs of our senior citizens, children and families.

A major goal of the Campaign for Legal Services is to develop a stable and significant base of financial support from our own legal community to provide for the basic legal needs of our own citizens. Clearly, we are in the best position to understand their needs and how to address them. Our contributed dollars directly benefit New Hampshire residents, free from political agendas and bureaucratic costs over which we have no control.

Federal funds come and go and IOLTA funds rise and fall with the economy, but our New Hampshire lawyers can be counted on to make certain that the basic legal needs of our citizens can be met with regular annual contributions. The $500-per-year pacesetter gifts represent a significant commitment on the part of the lawyers kicking off the Campaign. If a substantial number of our lawyers follow their lead, we will give our legal services organizations the means to seriously tackle the problems caused by poverty in this state.

Since the kickoff of the Campaign, its Steering Committee has been busy organizing the divisions that will conduct fundraising. Fundraising will begin in December, after the local United Ways complete their annual campaigns. Campaign leaders know, however, that law firms are planning their budgets for 2003 right now, and encourage firms to anticipate a substantial contribution to the Campaign.

We hope members of NH's legal community will answer the call for their financial support of legal services and look forward to working with them to achieve the goals of the Campaign.

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