The Garden State Bar Association on Monday announced the formation of the Garden State Bar Foundation Inc., a separate 501(c)(3) charitable entity.
The GSBF will oversee the GSBA Endowed Scholarship Fund, which was established with funds raised from more than 40 community partners and sponsors at the organization’s 47th Anniversary Scholarship and Awards Gala in September 2022.
The fund will provide financial aid and assistance in the form of scholarships, loans and grants to underrepresented racially and ethnically diverse students with New Jersey ties who are enrolled at ABA-accredited law schools anywhere in the U.S.
“The GSBA is thrilled to be in a position to officially launch the Garden State Bar Foundation,” GSBA President Natalya Johnson said. “At the heart of our association’s mission is diversification of the legal profession, and, for decades, the GSBA has proudly sponsored a scholarship program to support students who are pursuing law degrees. The establishment of a foundation to manage the endowment funding scholarships provides a sustained and strategic mechanism to ensure the GSBA’s continued financial support of our pipeline of law students for years to come.”
With the formation of the GSBF, the GSBA will be one of the select number of bar associations in the state with a separate charitable arm, and the GSBF one of the few foundations tied to an affinity bar association in New Jersey.
Founding board trustees of the GSBF include GSBA Past Presidents William T. Rogers III, Dean Burrell, Crystal West Edwards and Pamela Miller, Past National Bar Association and American Bar Association President Paulette Brown, and Gibbons P.C. Chief Diversity Officer and Director Robert Johnson. Upon completing her term as president of the GSBA, Natalya Johnson will lead the GSBF as its president.
