Venable Foundation Annual Report | FY2023

In that spirit, our firm established the Venable Foundation in 1983, when the firm allocated $100,000 to 30 organizations that provided needed services and opportunities to low-income individuals and marginalized groups. In 2023 Venable’s equity partners donated $3.8 million to the Foundation. As we celebrated the Foundation’s 40th anniversary this year, we reflected on four decades of commitment, philanthropy, and giving back to the communities our attorneys, professionals, and clients call home. Our founding partners wanted to stress the importance of connection. And they wanted, as a firm, to connect with the challenges impacting our communities, regardless of whether those issues intersect with a particular area of our practice. It is by helping our neighbors that we can start to chip away at larger systemic issues and create a space where people can thrive. Of course, Venable attorneys have their own professional and personal commitments in the community. We assist these efforts and encourage our attorneys to be board members, volunteers, donors, and supporters of a variety of causes. Our funding priorities remain purposely broad, to support organizations in which our attorneys are involved and provide outreach to a variety of social causes that strive for a prosperous community. As a law firm, we feel that there is a special role for Venable to play—supporting the provision of legal services to those who might not otherwise have access to such services. But our philanthropy doesn’t stop there. While the Foundation does have a healthy portfolio of legal services grantees, we also understand that there are often intersecting issues to consider, whether they are employment status, food insecurity, At Venable, our connections to each other, our clients, and our communities have long been integral to our firm’s culture and success. When the communities in which we live and work thrive, we thrive too. And when the firm prospers, we give back. PHOTOS: Front cover: GrowNYC. Left: GrowNYC; New Futures; Homeboy Industries; and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.