Congress established the Federal Judicial Center Foundation in 1988 as a private, nonprofit corporation to receive gifts to support the work of the Center. It is governed by a seven-person board appointed by the Chief Justice, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. No board member may be a judge. The foundation has sole authority to decide whether to accept gifts offered to support the work of the Center, and thereby to determine the suitability of would-be donors. The foundation may not accept earmarked funds for projects not previously approved by the Center Board, and the Center has sole control over the design and conduct of research or education programs supported by donations to the foundation. This year, the Center Board adopted policies to guide the Center staff if approached by would-be donors, in order to allow the staff to provide information to prospective donors about the nature of the Center's work and to gather information that may help inform the boards of the foundation and the Center as they exercise their respective statutory responsibilities.
The members of the foundation's board are as follows:
Philip W. Tone, Esq., Chicago, lllinois, chair
E. William Crotty, Esq., Daytona Beach, Florida
Laurie L Michel, Esq., Washington, DC
Dianne M. Nast, Esq., Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Robert n Raven, Esq., San Francisco, California
Richard M. Rosenbaum, Esq., Rochester, New York
Benjamin L Zelenko, Esq., Washington, DC
The Center is required by statute to include in its annual report a description of the purposes for which gifts were used during the year covered by the report. Grants to the foundation last year provided important financial help for programs in specialized areas. Specifically:
- A grant from the Carnegie Corporation helped support science and technology education programs.
- A grant from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation supported a seminar for judges on health care issues.
- A grant from the National Institute of Certified Public Accountants supported training to help judges understand financial statements.
- Through an agreement with the Center and foundation boards and the Judicial Conference, the foundation receives funds to support international judicial education programs sponsored jointly by the Center and the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations. In 1996, the Department of Commerce made a grant to support a seminar for judges and legal officials from the Russian Federation and Ukraine on protection of intellectual property, and a U.S. Agency for International Development grant supported a seminar on case management, judicial education, and other issues for judges from Latin America. The Center also used unrestricted gift funds for part-time staff to assist in planning and conducting seminars and conferences for foreign judges and legal officials.
- A gift from the American Society of International Law helped to defray some of the mailing expenses of the International Judicial Observer.