The Seyfarth Shaw Charitable Foundation makes grants that support our attorneys and staff in their charitable activities, the legal aid organizations with whom we work, and our offices’ “flagship” charities.
As a law firm, we understand we have a special obligation to support the legal aid organizations who take the laboring oar in doing community outreach, screening pro bono clients, referring new matters, and providing our attorneys with training and support, all with very limited resources. In addition, we recognize the value of each office adopting a charity that is especially meaningful to that office and participating in major fundraising and awareness-raising activities for those organizations, which we designate as our “flagship” charities. More recently, our Charitable Foundation has also made donations in response to natural and humanitarian disasters.
Response to Natural Disasters
Start with compassion.
Over the past three years, there has been a dramatic and alarming uptick in natural disasters around the world. These disasters have included devastating earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, Morocco, and Haiti; wildfires in Hawaii; floods in Libya; and hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico. Each of these disasters had heartbreaking effects on those impacted, and many of our people reached out asking for ways to help.
Take action.
In response to these disasters, our Charitable Foundation announced matches of individual employee donations to nonprofit organizations working to help those impacted. The level of donations made by our people following those announcements was truly remarkable.
Make an impact.
From 2021-2023, our Charitable Foundation donated over $60,000 to organizations providing relief in response to natural disasters. Those organizations included World Central Kitchen, Save the Children, GlobalGiving, CARE, International Medical Corps, Maui United Way, and United Way of Puerto Rico. Including donations made by individual employees, the amount donated exceeded $120,000.
Cross-Office & Inclusion Collaboration Spotlight: Global 5K
Each year, the Seyfarth Women’s Network and the Pro Bono & Philanthropy department team up to orchestrate a Global 5K in support of an international charity. The Global 5K invites participants from all of Seyfarth’s offices across the globe to run or walk 5 kilometers over the course of a single weekend, in celebration of these charities and Seyfarth’s global community.
Members of Seyfarth’s worldwide team often form local group events in each Seyfarth city to walk or run together. Others complete the 5K on their own time at the gym, in their neighborhoods, and even on their vacations in exotic locations!
In 2021, the charity supported by the Global 5K was Girl Up, a United Nations organization led by girls around the world who raise awareness about and advocate for health, safety, education, and leadership of girls in developing countries. In 2022 and 2023, the charity supported was STOP THE TRAFFIK, a nonprofit that uses the power of people and technology to combat human trafficking.
From 2021-2023, over 950 Seyfarthians participated in the Global 5K. That added up to more than 4,750 kilometers of walking or running in support of Girl Up and STOP THE TRAFFIK. For all three Global 5Ks, the total amount raised for these two charities was over $45,000.
See a Global 5K video below!
