The Federal Judicial Center Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation established by Congress to receive gifts to support the work of the Center. By statute, the foundation has sole authority to decide whether to accept gifts to support the work of the Center and thereby to determine the suitability of would-be donors. The foundation may not accept gifts earmarked for projects that have not previously been approved by the Center’s Board, and the Center has sole control over the design and conduct of research or education programs supported by donations.
The foundation 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. The members of the foundation’s board during 2002 were as follows:
Dianne M. Nast, Esq., Lancaster, Pa., chair
Richard D. Casey, Esq., Sioux Falls, S.D.
Laurie L. Michel, Esq., Washington, D.C.
Charles B. Renfrew, Esq., San Francisco, Cal.
Marna S. Tucker, Esq., Washington, D.C.
John B. White, Jr., Esq., Spartanburg, S.C.
Benjamin L. Zelenko, Esq., Washington, D.C.
In creating the foundation, Congress directed that Center annual reports describe the purposes for which foundation gifts were used in the year covered by the report. The Center used foundation gifts in 2002 for specialized research and education projects as follows:
- A multiyear grant from the Hewlett Foundation is supporting a project that will provide on-site consultation to courts seeking assistance in developing or refining their alternative dispute resolution programs. In 2002 the grant supported two meetings of the project advisory board and the development of educational materials.
- A grant from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants supported one seminar to help judges analyze financial statements presented as evidence.
- Undesignated funds were used to support judicial seminars on specialized topics such as intellectual property and employment law; for partial support of the Center’s project to provide secondary school and college educators with Web-based curriculum units about historic federal trials; and to provide supplies and token gifts for briefings of judicial officials from foreign countries.