The Morrison & Foerster Foundation 2020 Report

THE MORRISON & FOERSTER FOUNDATION WE FOCUS ON PROGRAMS SERVING PEOPLE WHO FACE DISADVANTAGES, DISCRIMINATION, AND INJUSTICE. In 2020, we applied our longstanding community-based approach to address the critical needs of advancing racial justice and respond to the urgent health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also supported the emergency response to the devastating bushfires in Australia. Altogether, these giving campaigns resulted in more than $420,000 in donations by the Morrison & Foerster community. Of that amount, the Foundation’s total donations surpassed $200,000. RACIAL JUSTICE Since its founding in 1986, the Foundation’s giving has focused on nonprofit programs serving people in our communities who face disadvantages, discrimination, and injustice. In this troubling time of pandemic, we shared in the collective, justified outrage following the senseless police killing of George Floyd as well as the high-profile killing of other Black Americans in 2020, including Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, as well as so many more throughout history that have gone unpublicized. Standing with our colleagues and communities of color and against racial discrimination and violence, particularly as it impacts Black Americans, the Foundation launched a fundraising campaign in June 2020 in support of racial justice. It quickly resulted in donations by firm personnel and the Foundation totaling $175,000. Of that amount, the Foundation’s donations focused on four areas of importance: criminal justice reform, fair elections, freedom and diversity of the press, and health justice. These special donations are shown on the following page and are in addition to donations supporting essential racial equity work made through our standard community-based giving programs, described elsewhere in this report.