Let’s talk about pro bono program assessments, because this is the kind of SUPER EXCITING CONTENT that’s sure to attract millions of readers! Or…at least a couple dozen pro bono nerds like me.

From 2020-2024 I oversaw a pro bono program inside a civil legal aid organization. We applied for a Transformation Grant from LSC’s Pro Bono Innovation Fund (PBIF). We enjoyed that process so much that we got ourselves rejected and applied all over again. LOL? We finally won the grant in 2023.

We designed our Transformation Grant project to begin with a six-month pro bono program assessment. We contracted with thredpartners–I was a thredparnters client before I was a thredpartners consultant–and off we went. Here are the five aspects of the assessment which I most valued:

  1. Assembling our “Pro Bono Stakeholders” group. The assessment team engaged a diverse group of stakeholders, including our pro bono team and direct-services staff, volunteer and non-volunteer attorneys, bar association officials, and community partners. They conducted one-on-one interviews. They facilitated a day of in-person meetings and working groups. Why was this valuable?
    • We viewed our program through others’ eyes. We learned from their perspectives and experiences. And the reverse was true: our stakeholders learned about our program and felt their voices were heard. Our stakeholders grew more invested in our successful transformation! Talk about a great byproduct.
  2. Building a data-driven foundation for change. thredpartners surveyed our legal aid staff and private attorneys throughout our service area. They analyzed case reports to learn what kinds of cases our program handled, how we engaged volunteers, what levels of service we provided, and more. The value?
    • We learned so much(!), including what our own coworkers did and didn’t know about pro bono, where staff and volunteers struggled with our program, and what strengths we should build on. Some of these truths were hard. All of them were helpful.
  3. Transforming from the inside out. To achieve external results, we had to change our program’s internal mechanics. We documented every workflow step from client intake to volunteer referrals to service delivery to case-closing procedures. We mapped out how we recruited volunteers, trained them, and thanked them. Crucially, our assessment focused not just on process, but on human experience—how people felt during these processes. How did clients feel about waiting for a pro bono referral? How did volunteers feel about not hearing from us for months? We are all, even us lawyers, emotional creatures. How we feel drives how we act. Thus, empathizing with everyone we impacted was vital.
  4. Giving us an objective viewpoint. Throughout our work together, I felt (see #3 above) that the assessment team analyzed our program without judgement. Like good therapists, they empowered us to reach our own conclusions from the assessment’s work product: interviews, surveys, process maps, oh my. They guided us when they saw red flags, and they shared examples of how other pro bono programs worked. But they maintained a kind of friendly neutrality throughout.
  5. Delivering the assessment report and recommendations, which served as both a roadmap for transformation and as evidence on which to ground future decisions. The assessment process remains valuable long after the work is done.

Working with thredpartners: we’ve performed 14 pro bono program assessments for legal aid programs throughout the US. My colleagues and I are career public interest advocates. We’ve logged a lot of time in legal aid and pro bono leadership. We share your mission and we care about legal aid staffers, clients, and the volunteers who make pro bono happen.

Contact us today! Want to talk about an assessment or anything else related to pro bono, legal aid, or even the Glorious Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Franchise? Email me: sgrumm@thredpartners.com. If you’re issuing a Request for Proposals, please include me or send it to: inquiry@thredpartners.com.