Venable Foundation Annual Report | FY2023

The Venable Foundation’s Impact Grants provide the means to dig deeper, toward a greater goal. These grants are always centered around a given theme, to address a major need that has surfaced throughout our locations. In honor of the Foundation’s 40th anniversary, its leaders chose to modify the Impact Grant program this year to focus on one nonprofit entity that had a broader focus beyond just one of our office locations, and to provide more dollars for this purpose than ever before. At the anniversary event, Foundation president Lindsay B. Meyer presented the grant, totaling $250,000, to Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), an organization providing social and legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children in the United States. The funding will directly benefit social services support for KIND’s clients residing in DC, Los Angeles, Maryland, New York, San Francisco, and Virginia—communities where Venable has offices. KIND has additional ties to the firm through a long-standing pro bono partnership with our attorneys. The unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children KIND serves have complex psychosocial needs stemming from trauma experienced before, during, and after their journeys to the U.S. Many also require assistance with basic needs, including food, housing, and healthcare. All need help navigating the U.S. immigration and child welfare systems. KIND’s holistic approach ensures clients’ needs are met by complementing their legal representation with comprehensive social services. Working across 15 field offices, social services staff partner with community providers to support more than 4,000 children each year, 50% of whom are higher-needs clients receiving ongoing, individualized case management. KIND facilitates the provision of trauma-informed, linguistically appropriate, and culturally responsive support services, ensuring clients’ access to resources encompassing healthcare, mental health, substance use, food and housing stability, education, English language learning, crisis support, public benefit applications, teen pregnancy and parenting support, LGBTQIA+ client support, extracurricular activities, career development, and creativity and self-expression. 2023 Impact Grant