Latest News - Impact Fund

Our mission is to provide grants, advocacy and education to
support impact litigation on behalf of marginalized communities
seeking economic, environmental and social justice.

Connect with us:

Grants

Learn about the types of cases we fund and how to apply for a grant in a new case.

Cases

Read more about the cases we are currently working on for social justice and change.

Legal Training

Learn how you can be part of the movement for social justice through impact litigation.

We’ve provided $5.7 million to fund public interest litigation to benefit a large number of people, lead to significant law reform and raise public consciousness.  Join the fight for legal justice.

The Impact Fund needs your support!

Please considering making a generous donation as we push to meet our funding goal of $35,000 by June 30, 2017.

Marginalized communities are always in the cross-hairs of corporate avarice and feel the hand of autocratic government most keenly.

With tyranny on the rise, litigation is once more recognized as resistance, but litigation doesn’t appear out of nowhere...

It takes training, it takes funding and it takes perseverance. Our grant program (funding the cases that matter), our training services (conference, training institute, webinars and ListServe), and our issue advocacy – boldly leading the opposition of more than a hundred civil rights organizations to oppose H.R. 985 hang together as a beautiful safety net to advance social justice.

Thank you for understanding that.

Your contribution will help us to continue advancing economic, environmental, racial, and social justice, positively impacting lives and communities across the nation.

Spring Appeal Fundraising Progress 6/20/2017

Spring Appeal Fundraising Progress 6/20/2017

Featured
ALEC: A LOBBYING GROUP MASQUERADING AS A PUBLIC CHARITY
American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Exxon, NRA, Spring Task Force Summit, GOP Model Leglisation, Common Cause, Center for Media and Democracy, Tax-Deductible Lobbying Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Exxon, NRA, Spring Task Force Summit, GOP Model Leglisation, Common Cause, Center for Media and Democracy, Tax-Deductible Lobbying Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
ALEC: A LOBBYING GROUP MASQUERADING AS A PUBLIC CHARITY
American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Exxon, NRA, Spring Task Force Summit, GOP Model Leglisation, Common Cause, Center for Media and Democracy, Tax-Deductible Lobbying Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Exxon, NRA, Spring Task Force Summit, GOP Model Leglisation, Common Cause, Center for Media and Democracy, Tax-Deductible Lobbying Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment

When Exxon takes state legislators to dinner to lobby against climate change laws, should taxpayers pay for the entrée?  When the NRA invites politicians to attend its annual clay pigeon shoot so it can lobby against an assault weapons ban, or when Reynolds Tobacco pays for the attendance of politicians at its Cigar Reception to convince them that tobacco is benign, should the rest of us pay for the ammo, cigars, and resort accommodations?

American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Exxon, NRA, Spring Task Force Summit, GOP Model Leglisation, Common Cause, Center for Media and Democracy, Tax-Deductible Lobbying Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
American Legislative Exch, ALEC, Corporate Fraud Exxon, NRA, Spring Task Force Summit, GOP Model Leglisation, Common Cause, Center for Media and Democracy, Tax-Deductible Lobbying Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Derailing the Polluters - Impact Litigation Stops Crude By Rail In Its Tracks
Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, Tar Sands Crude, Phillips 66 Refinery San Luis Obispo, 350 Silicon Valley, WesPac, Valero Benicia Crude by Rail, CBE v. San Joaquin Valley APCD, CBE v. Contra Costa County, Center for Biological Diversity v. State Lands Commission Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, Tar Sands Crude, Phillips 66 Refinery San Luis Obispo, 350 Silicon Valley, WesPac, Valero Benicia Crude by Rail, CBE v. San Joaquin Valley APCD, CBE v. Contra Costa County, Center for Biological Diversity v. State Lands Commission Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Derailing the Polluters - Impact Litigation Stops Crude By Rail In Its Tracks
Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, Tar Sands Crude, Phillips 66 Refinery San Luis Obispo, 350 Silicon Valley, WesPac, Valero Benicia Crude by Rail, CBE v. San Joaquin Valley APCD, CBE v. Contra Costa County, Center for Biological Diversity v. State Lands Commission Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, Tar Sands Crude, Phillips 66 Refinery San Luis Obispo, 350 Silicon Valley, WesPac, Valero Benicia Crude by Rail, CBE v. San Joaquin Valley APCD, CBE v. Contra Costa County, Center for Biological Diversity v. State Lands Commission Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment

Moving oil by train means that hazardous oil train routes would cross through eight of the state’s ten largest cities and through the downtowns of many smaller cities and towns. Increased oil train traffic is a threat to all Californians but brings the greatest risk to environmental justice communities: low income communities of color that already live with a disproportionate and elevated health and safety risk from industrial spills, fires and explosions, as well as, chronic, daily air and water pollution.

Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, Tar Sands Crude, Phillips 66 Refinery San Luis Obispo, 350 Silicon Valley, WesPac, Valero Benicia Crude by Rail, CBE v. San Joaquin Valley APCD, CBE v. Contra Costa County, Center for Biological Diversity v. State Lands Commission Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Crude By Rail, Environmental Justice Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, Tar Sands Crude, Phillips 66 Refinery San Luis Obispo, 350 Silicon Valley, WesPac, Valero Benicia Crude by Rail, CBE v. San Joaquin Valley APCD, CBE v. Contra Costa County, Center for Biological Diversity v. State Lands Commission Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Failed Birth Control Device: Thousands Seek Justice
Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Essure, Lori Andrus, Bayer, Conceptus, Andrus Anderson, Group Litigation, Class Actions, HR 985, HR 1215, National Center for Health Research, Big Pharma, Civil Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Essure, Lori Andrus, Bayer, Conceptus, Andrus Anderson, Group Litigation, Class Actions, HR 985, HR 1215, National Center for Health Research, Big Pharma, Civil Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Failed Birth Control Device: Thousands Seek Justice
Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Essure, Lori Andrus, Bayer, Conceptus, Andrus Anderson, Group Litigation, Class Actions, HR 985, HR 1215, National Center for Health Research, Big Pharma, Civil Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Essure, Lori Andrus, Bayer, Conceptus, Andrus Anderson, Group Litigation, Class Actions, HR 985, HR 1215, National Center for Health Research, Big Pharma, Civil Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment

Anna Jennings, mother of two, was promised that the Essure birth control device was a safe, quick, and easy option for family planning. Sadly, it turned out to be anything but. Thousands of women are now suffering from severe side effects and complications they allege were caused by Essure. These include allergic reactions (to the nickel contained in the Essure coil), chronic pain, excessive bleeding, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy.

Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Essure, Lori Andrus, Bayer, Conceptus, Andrus Anderson, Group Litigation, Class Actions, HR 985, HR 1215, National Center for Health Research, Big Pharma, Civil Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Mass Torts, Birth Control, Women's Health Essure, Lori Andrus, Bayer, Conceptus, Andrus Anderson, Group Litigation, Class Actions, HR 985, HR 1215, National Center for Health Research, Big Pharma, Civil Justice Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Featured
Class Action Cert, Due Process Clause, HR 985 Jocelyn Larkin, Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court, Microsoft v. Baker, Rule 23(f), Rule 23, Class Action Cert Appeal, Mass Torts Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Class Action Cert, Due Process Clause, HR 985 Jocelyn Larkin, Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court, Microsoft v. Baker, Rule 23(f), Rule 23, Class Action Cert Appeal, Mass Torts Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
SCOTUS RULING AT ODDS WITH H.R. 985, WHICH WOULD PERMIT IMMEDIATE APPEALS OF ALL CLASS CERTIFICATION ORDERS
Class Action Cert, Due Process Clause, HR 985 Jocelyn Larkin, Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court, Microsoft v. Baker, Rule 23(f), Rule 23, Class Action Cert Appeal, Mass Torts Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Class Action Cert, Due Process Clause, HR 985 Jocelyn Larkin, Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court, Microsoft v. Baker, Rule 23(f), Rule 23, Class Action Cert Appeal, Mass Torts Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Class Action Cert, Due Process Clause, HR 985 Jocelyn Larkin, Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court, Microsoft v. Baker, Rule 23(f), Rule 23, Class Action Cert Appeal, Mass Torts Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Class Action Cert, Due Process Clause, HR 985 Jocelyn Larkin, Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court, Microsoft v. Baker, Rule 23(f), Rule 23, Class Action Cert Appeal, Mass Torts Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
H.R. 1215, Medical Malpractice Veterans, Girard Gibbs, Judge Michelle Burns, Steve Cooper, VA Hospital Phoenix Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
H.R. 1215, Medical Malpractice Veterans, Girard Gibbs, Judge Michelle Burns, Steve Cooper, VA Hospital Phoenix Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
H.R. 1215: Obliterating Access to Justice for Severe Medical Negligence
H.R. 1215, Medical Malpractice Veterans, Girard Gibbs, Judge Michelle Burns, Steve Cooper, VA Hospital Phoenix Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
H.R. 1215, Medical Malpractice Veterans, Girard Gibbs, Judge Michelle Burns, Steve Cooper, VA Hospital Phoenix Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment

On March 6, 2017, in a federal courtroom filled with veterans and family members of veterans, Judge Michelle Burns took the bench to read her findings in the medical malpractice action that Steve Cooper, an eighteen-year veteran of the US Army, brought against the VA hospital in Phoenix for failing to diagnose his cancer. 

H.R. 1215, Medical Malpractice Veterans, Girard Gibbs, Judge Michelle Burns, Steve Cooper, VA Hospital Phoenix Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
H.R. 1215, Medical Malpractice Veterans, Girard Gibbs, Judge Michelle Burns, Steve Cooper, VA Hospital Phoenix Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Structured Negotiation Lainey Feingold, Linda Dardarian Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Structured Negotiation Lainey Feingold, Linda Dardarian Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits
Structured Negotiation Lainey Feingold, Linda Dardarian Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Structured Negotiation Lainey Feingold, Linda Dardarian Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment

Lainey explains the approach in clear and well-organized chapters, with illustrations from dozens of successful negotiations against major banks, retailers, and even Major League Baseball.  One of the rewarding “sub-plots” of the book is the fascinating evolution of accessible technology over the past two decades for those who are “print-disabled.”  She explains how “talking ATMs,” accessible websites and audio description for movies have become state-of-the-art methods for corporations to better serve all of their customers. 

Structured Negotiation Lainey Feingold, Linda Dardarian Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment
Structured Negotiation Lainey Feingold, Linda Dardarian Teddy Basham-Witherington Comment

Download Our 2016 Annual Report

Read how Impact Fund is changing the legal landscape for those that need help the most with insights on the cases we support, rulings we've won and the faces of our community

Download our 2016 Annual Report now

Download our 2016 Annual Report now

 

Meet Our Team

Top Row LtR: Adrienne Pon, Amy Danieqicz, Lynnette Miner, Lindsay Nako, Mae Nguyen Bottom Row LtR: Zachary McCoy, Sela Steiger, Teddy Basham-Witherington, Jocelyn D. Larkin, Jason Soto

Top Row LtR: Adrienne Pon, Amy Danieqicz, Lynnette Miner, Lindsay Nako, Mae Nguyen
Bottom Row LtR: Zachary McCoy, Sela Steiger, Teddy Basham-Witherington, Jocelyn D. Larkin, Jason Soto

Together, we can fight the big fish

Together, we can fight the big fish