APPLICATION FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT

GENERAL DISCALIMERS

United for Freedoms Legal Defense Fund (UFLDF) is a nonpartisan, charitable legal defense fund.
UFLDF does not provide legal advice or legal services or representation.
Nothing contained in this application should be construed as providing legal advice.
Please do not include any confidential or non-public information on this application, as the information you provide to UFLDF may not be protected by the attorney-client privilege.
The decision to award funds rests exclusively with UFLDF. The fact that UFLDF chooses not to provide funding to a particular applicant is not necessarily indicative of the merits of that applicant’s claims.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and as quickly as possible.
As part of the review and application process, applicants may be asked for additional information beyond the information requested on this form.

LIMITATIONS ON FUNDING

Any funding approved by UFLDF will generally be approved for a specific matter and must be used by the recipient for that matter only. In addition, and at its discretion, UFLDF may choose to award funding only for specific phases of a specific matter. In such instances, UFLDF will convey to the recipient that the funding is for a specific phase and that funding for additional phases may require a supplemental application.
UFLDF provides funding in specific dollar amounts. UFLDF does not provide open-ended funding. Moreover, funding for a specific phase and/or matter does not obligate UFLDF to provide funding for additional phases of a matter or for additional matters, even if related.

FUNDING RECIPIENT OBLIGATIONS

UFLDF does not exercise control over case strategy; however, to ensure that the funds are being used for their intended purpose, UFLDF will require from the funding recipient and/or the recipient’s attorney(s) status updates and/or, at minimum, certification of how the funds are being spent. UFLDF may also require status updates on the progress in the matter that is being funded.

ELIGIBILITY AND CRITERIA FOR FUNDING

FUNDING ELIGIBILITY

Funding is available for legal actions—including, but not limited to, civil or criminal litigation and government agency or Congressional investigations, inquiries, or audits—involving individuals and Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations.
In extraordinary circumstances, funding may be available for legal actions involving mission-oriented taxable nonprofits, other mission-oriented taxable entities, and other types of tax-exempt entities.
Funding is not available for legal actions on behalf of political candidates, political parties, political action committees (PACs), or IRC Section 527 political organizations.

GENERAL FUNDING CRITERIA

The Committee will consider the following criteria, among others, in determining whether to award funds:
- Funding is available to organizations or individuals whose human or civil rights, secured by constitutional or statutory law, are threatened or violated. To receive funding based on this criterion, the legal action should be expected to have the potential to define the extent or limitation of the human or civil right, secured by law, that is asserted as being threatened or violated.
- IRC Section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations may be eligible for funding for a broader range of legal actions and/or for additional legal defense needs and related activities, so long as the purposes of the funding are exclusively charitable within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3).
- IRC Section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that have indemnified an individual for legal expenses related to their defense, such as an officer or employee, where that individual’s circumstances meet the above criteria for funding, are also eligible to apply for support in meeting their indemnification obligations.

APPLICATION

*Notice: This application form and the information provided is protected by end-to-end encryption. Once submitted, you will not be able to view or edit responses. This application form does not support the ability to save responses before submitting. Please be sure to review the application and information required in its entirety before completing.

DO NOT PROVIDE ANY PRIVILEGED, NON-PUBLIC OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Please answer the questions below. This application may be completed by an individual or organization seeking funding or an attorney that has been retained to represent an applicant. For the purpose of this application, the individual or organization seeking funding for their legal representation is the “applicant.”

Please confirm that you have read the disclaimers and eligibility criteria above.*

Yes.

Please indicate which of the following applies:*

The application is for a legal matter involving an individual person who has not retained an attorney to represent themselves with respect to the legal action that is the basis for this application. (Complete Parts A and C.)The application is for a legal matter involving an organization that has not retained an attorney to represent itself with respect to the legal action that is the basis for this application. (Complete Parts B and C.)The application is for a legal matter involving an individual person who has retained an attorney to represent themselves with respect to the legal action that is the basis for this application. (Complete Parts A, C, and D.)The application is for a legal matter involving an organization that has retained an attorney to represent itself with respect to the legal action that is the basis for this application. (Complete Parts B, C, and D.)

PART A

For individual (natural person) applicants, please provide the following information:

Applicant name

First NameLast Name

Applicant home or business address

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip Code

Applicant email address (personal or business)

example@example.com

Applicant daytime telephone number

Area CodePhone Number

PART B

For organization applicants, please provide the following information:

Name of applicant organization

Applicant IRS employer identification number (EIN)

IRC section under which applicant is tax-exempt (e.g., 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), etc.), if any

Applicant business address

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip Code

Name of the individual UFLDF should contact regarding this application

First NameLast Name

Title of the individual (e.g., officer, employee, or attorney) UFLDF should contact regarding this application

Title

Email address of that contact individual

example@example.com

Daytime telephone number of that contact individual

Area CodePhone Number

PART C – ALL APPLICANTS

C1 – NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE PURPOSES OF FUNDING AND OTHER FUNDS RECEIVED

In brief, and without providing any non-public, confidential, or legally privileged information, please explain the reason that the applicant is seeking funding from UFLDF. Do not provide any confidential, non-public, or legally privileged information in answering this question, as the information provided may not be protected by the attorney-client privilege. If you are unsure, it is better to indicate that you cannot fully answer a question at this time and we will follow up with you about next steps. Please limit your response to 300 words.

Be sure to include:

The type of legal action for which funding is sought (if the application relates to a matter for which filings are publicly available, please list the case docket number or similar information as well);
If human or civil rights are being threatened or violated, or if human or civil rights are being asserted as a defense to a legal action, and a description of those rights;
If the applicant is tax-exempt under IRC Section 501(c)(3), any other charitable purpose(s), if any, that will be funded;
If the applicant is tax-exempt under IRC Section 501(c)(3) and is seeking funding to meet indemnification obligations, a description of the activity necessitating the indemnification and the nature of the indemnification obligations.

(300 word max)*

0/300

Is the applicant seeking or has the applicant obtained funding from sources other than UFLDF? If so, please identify those sources (e.g., personal or organizational funds, insurance, etc.) and the amount of funding that is being sought or has been obtained.*

Does the applicant need assistance with the case beyond funding for legal services (e.g., crisis communications, digital or other security, etc.)?*

C2 – FUNDING DETAILS

Applicants that have retained an attorney must complete the following. Applicants that have not retained an attorney should complete the following to the best of their ability at the time of application. Again, do not provide any confidential, non-public, or legally privileged information in answering this question, as the information provided may not be protected by the attorney-client privilege. If you are unsure, it is better to indicate that you cannot fully answer a question at this time and we will follow up with you about next steps.

For which phase or phases of the legal action is funding sought? Please be specific. For example, are you seeking funding to respond to a subpoena for documents? Are you seeking funding to respond to a grand jury subpoena requiring testimony? Are you seeking funding for litigation that you expect to be resolved at summary judgment or at trial?*

What is the projected cost of the phase or phases of the legal action for which you are seeking funding?*

What is the basis for that projected cost?*

How much funding are you seeking from UFLDF for the particular phase or phases of the legal action for which you are submitting this application?*

What amount of the funding that you are seeking from UFLDF do you expect to go to attorney fees versus other costs (and what are those other costs)? *

*Please note that if UFLDF agrees to provide funding, it may not provide the full amount of funding sought.

Do you anticipate additional phases of the legal action for which you might need funding?*

Is there a potential to recover attorneys’ fees as part of this legal action?*

PART D

For applicants that have retained an attorney, please provide the following information about the attorney:

Attorney name

First NameLast Name

Attorney email address (business)

example@example.com

Attorney daytime telephone number

Area CodePhone Number

Attorney firm name

Attorney firm website

Jurisdictions where attorney is licensed and/or admitted to practice and dates of admission

Will this attorney be the lead counsel for the legal action? If not, who will be lead counsel or does the applicant need assistance retaining lead counsel with relevant expertise?

Please provide a description of this attorney’s experience and credentials (or the lead counsel’s if different) as relevant to the legal action for which you are seeking funding.

If you believe you must provide privileged, non-public or confidential information to complete the application, do not provide that information here.

Please check this box and UFLDF will be in touch with instructions on how to proceed.

If there are portions of this form that you are unsure of how to complete, please explain that below before submitting this application. As a reminder, do not provide any privileged, non-public or confidential information.

Please verify that you are human*

APPLICATION FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT

GENERAL DISCALIMERS

LIMITATIONS ON FUNDING

FUNDING RECIPIENT OBLIGATIONS

ELIGIBILITY AND CRITERIA FOR FUNDING

FUNDING ELIGIBILITY

GENERAL FUNDING CRITERIA

APPLICATION

DO NOT PROVIDE ANY PRIVILEGED, NON-PUBLIC OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

PART A

For individual (natural person) applicants, please provide the following information:

PART B

For organization applicants, please provide the following information:

PART C – ALL APPLICANTS

C1 – NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE PURPOSES OF FUNDING AND OTHER FUNDS RECEIVED

C2 – FUNDING DETAILS

PART D

For applicants that have retained an attorney, please provide the following information about the attorney:

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