Texas Bar Foundation awards $1.06 million to 74 groups for legal aid, reentry and victim services
The foundation's fall grants range from $2,018 to $50,000. The two largest go to a Houston law school's volunteer lawyer network and a San Antonio church's program that helps people recover identification documents. The next deadline is Jan. 15.
The five largest Texas Bar Foundation grants of fall 2026
Austin. The Texas Bar Foundation, an Austin charity whose members are Texas lawyers, has awarded $1,061,321 in grants to 74 organizations in its fall 2026 cycle, according to the grant list it posted in late October. The Texas Lawbook reported the awards on Nov. 6.
The grants range from $2,018 to the Travis County Juvenile Probation Department, for restorative justice and victim services, to $50,000. Most recipients are nonprofits, but the list also includes counties, a school district, universities and specialty courts. The foundation says it has awarded more than $32 million since it was founded.
Where the largest grants go
South Texas College of Law Houston received $50,000 to launch a Clinic Volunteer Lawyer Network, a statewide program that recruits its alumni to take pro bono cases for Texans who cannot afford a lawyer. Travis Park United Methodist Church also received $50,000, to help people in downtown San Antonio recover their identification documents.
The HLB Fund of Houston received $40,000 to resolve heir property and clouded title cases and to teach estate planning and property rights. Restoration House Foundation of Austin received $30,000 for legal advocacy for domestic violence survivors, and The Samaritan Inn, a homeless shelter in McKinney, received $29,000 for a pilot that connects people experiencing homelessness with legal education, document recovery and pro bono lawyers.
Many smaller grants pay for reentry after prison, training for professionals who investigate child abuse, legal clinics for kinship caregivers and seniors, and immigration help. Southern Methodist University received $20,000 for heirs' property work in Dallas County, and Texas Southern University $25,000 for stipends for five recent graduates of its Thurgood Marshall School of Law who will provide supervised legal services to low-income Texans.
The next round
The foundation funds programs that enhance the rule of law and the justice system in Texas, especially legal assistance for the underserved, the administration of justice, legal ethics, legal research and education about the courts. It makes grants twice a year. Applications for the spring 2027 cycle are due by 5 p.m. Central time on Jan. 15, 2027, with awards announced in late April, and applicants must first create an account in the foundation's online grants portal.
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