A Toast to 2023

By Meredith S. Auten, President of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.

We are excited to welcome 2023! It holds many promises, unbroken resolutions, and pristine calendar pages. And the Bar Foundation is also looking ahead to 2024.

In 2024, the Bar Foundation will celebrate its 60th anniversary! Six decades of promoting access to justice for all people in our community. We will be looking at 2024, not only to celebrate our achievements, but to envision how we might further increase our impact.

Many of our supporters know the Bar Foundation primarily as a grant maker. After all, we provide financial assistance to over 30 nonprofit partners who provide our community top quality legal services to address unmet legal needs and provide education on matters of public interest. We are very proud of the work that we do through our philanthropy to support the crucial work done by our partners. Yet, grantmaking is only a part of what the Bar Foundation does. We believe that the Bar Foundation can have an even greater impact on our community. We can simultaneously celebrate our achievements as we look to the future to dedicate our efforts to anti-racism, anti-oppression, and equality for all.

In anticipation of our diamond anniversary, the Bar Foundation looks forward to engaging with our community on how we can most effectively move forward with our mission for equal justice. We will be planning events to celebrate our partners, build on our accomplishments, and raise funds to further our cause. Here’s a toast to 2023! We look forward to working with you to celebrate the achievements of the Bar Foundation and plan for its future.

Meredith S. Auten is president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.