Community Impact Fund
What This Is
The Community Impact Fund is how Building Block Legal puts unused resources to work for the people and organizations that need legal help the most.
When our subscription clients don’t need to use all of the capacity we’ve set aside for them, we don’t just let it disappear. We direct those resources toward free and reduced-cost legal services for individuals, startups, and nonprofits who can’t afford an attorney.
This is not a charity we donate to. It is work we do. The same attorneys who serve our subscription clients use their skills, training, and time to help organizations and people who would otherwise go without legal support.
Why We Do This
The legal system works best when everyone has access to it. The reality is that most people and most small organizations don’t.
67% of small business owners say they can’t afford a lawyer. 58% of freelancers have worked without a written contract because they couldn’t get legal help. Over 70% of freelancers have experienced non-payment at some point in their careers. Nonprofits operating on budgets under $250,000 typically spend little to nothing on legal services, relying on templates, guesswork, and hope.
These aren’t organizations that don’t need lawyers. They’re organizations that can’t reach one.
Building Block Legal was formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; a city with strong community ties. Inspired by figures like Mr. Rogers, we believe that strong communities are built from the bottom up, by local people doing what they can to make their place a little better. The Community Impact Fund exists because we believe the gap between needing a lawyer and having a lawyer should not be determined by budget size. When our subscribers don’t use their full allocation, we have capacity available. Rather than letting it sit idle, we use it for the people who need it most.
This is consistent with the values we publish in our Standard Terms of Engagement. We organize our practice around the principle that doing well and doing good are not in tension. The Community Impact Fund is one of the ways we put that into practice.
How It Works
Building Block Legal operates a subscription model for ongoing legal services. Each subscription reserves a portion of our attorneys’ time and capacity for that client’s use.
When subscribers don’t call on their full allocation in a given period, the Firm directs a corresponding contribution from its own resources to the Community Impact Fund. Subscriber fees are not donated. Our clients pay for access and availability. The Firm decides how to allocate resources that were reserved but not called upon, and we choose to direct them toward community legal work.
The Fund supports:
Basic contract review. Reviewing vendor agreements, MSAs, partnership MOUs, lease terms, and other contracts that small organizations encounter.
Governance support. Drafting conflict-of-interest policies, board resolutions, and other governance documents that funders and regulators expect.
Intellectual property basics. Copyright registration, trademark clearance searches, and IP assessments for organizations whose creative work is their mission.
Entity formation. Incorporating an LLC and drafting operating agreements, Or starting a nonprofit, drafting bylaws, and advising 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
Who It Serves
The Community Impact Fund is available to:
Individual founders, creatives, and students whose work serves a public or community benefit and who cannot afford market-rate legal services.
Early-stage social enterprises that are building something for their community but don’t yet have the revenue to support legal costs.
Pennsylvania-based 501(c)(3) organizations and unincorporated community groups that cannot afford legal representation.
We prioritize organizations and individuals who are new, small, mission-driven, and working in communities that have historically had less access to legal support.
Pro bono clients go through the same intake and conflicts check as every other client. They sign an engagement letter. They receive the same quality of work, the same confidentiality protections, and the same professional attention as any paying client. The only difference is that their fees are covered by the Fund.
How to Apply
If you are a Pennsylvania nonprofit, social enterprise, or individual creative who needs legal help but can’t afford it, we want to hear from you.
Contact us and tell us about your situation. We’ll review your information, run a conflicts check, and let you know whether we can help. There is no fee to apply and no obligation.
We cannot help everyone, and we cannot handle every type of legal matter. We do not provide representation in litigation, tax advice, patent work, or securities law through the Fund. If we can’t help you directly, we’ll do our best to point you toward someone who can.
How to Refer Someone
If you know a nonprofit, startup, or creative professional in Pennsylvania who could benefit from the Community Impact Fund, you can refer them directly. Send them to this page, or email us at hello@buildingblocklegal.com with the subject line “Community Impact Fund Referral” and a brief description of who they are and what they need. We’ll take it from there.
Our subscription clients are some of our best referral sources. If you’re a subscriber and you encounter an organization that needs help, let your attorney know. Part of the reason we built this Fund is so that the community our clients are part of gets stronger alongside them.
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Use the contact button linked on this page, or email hello@buildingblocklegal.com with the subject line “Community Impact Fund” and a brief description of who you are and what you need. We’ll review your information and follow up within 5 business days.
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Send them to this page, or email us at hello@buildingblocklegal.com with the subject line “Community Impact Fund Referral.” Include a brief description of who they are and what kind of help they need. If you’re a Building Block Legal subscriber, you can also mention it to your assigned attorney directly.
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The Community Impact Fund is currently supported entirely by the Firm’s own resources. We do not accept external donations at this time. If this changes in the future, we will update this page. The best way to support the Fund right now is to subscribe to our legal services or refer organizations that need help.
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When you don’t use your full allocation of services in a given period, the capacity we reserved for you is released. The Firm directs a corresponding contribution from its own resources to the Community Impact Fund. You are not donating anything. You paid for access, and the Firm delivered it. What the Firm does with its own resources when that capacity isn’t called upon is the Firm’s decision, and we choose to put it toward community legal work. Your subscription helps make that possible, and we’re grateful for that.
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Yes. Visit our Subscription Plans page to see our full range of legal service subscriptions, starting at $100/month. Every plan includes unlimited access to your attorney, a 20% discount on our flat-fee services (after an introductory period), and the knowledge that your relationship with our firm helps support legal services for those who need them most.
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It is Building Block Legal’s commitment to providing free and reduced-cost legal services to Pennsylvania nonprofits, startups, and individual creatives who can’t afford an attorney. The Fund is supported by the Firm’s subscription legal services practice. When our subscribers don’t use their full allocation of services, we direct corresponding resources from the Firm toward pro bono work.
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No. The Community Impact Fund is an internal program of Building Block Legal, PLLC. It is not a separate legal entity, not a 501(c)(3), and not a donor-advised fund. It is a commitment by the Firm to allocate a portion of its resources to community legal work. The Firm performs the work directly through its own attorneys.
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No. Subscriber fees are paid to the Firm for access, availability, and legal services. Those fees belong to the Firm. When subscribers don’t use their full allocation, the Firm has resources (attorney time, capacity) that were reserved but not called upon. The Firm chooses to direct those resources toward pro bono work rather than letting them sit idle. The decision to contribute is the Firm’s, not the client’s. No subscriber’s money is donated, redirected, or given away.
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The Fund serves individual founders, creatives, early-stage social enterprises, unincorporated community groups, and nonprofits who cannot afford market-rate legal services and whose work serves a public or community benefit. We prioritize organizations that are new, small, and mission-driven. Eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis.
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The Fund covers flat-fee transactional legal services that align with the Firm’s practice areas: contract review, governance document drafting (bylaws, policies, board resolutions), intellectual property basics (copyright registration, trademark clearance), entity and nonprofit formation, 501(c)(3) applications, and grant readiness assessments. The Fund does not cover litigation, tax advice, patent work, securities law, or matters outside the Firm’s practice areas.
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Yes. Every pro bono client goes through the same intake process, conflicts check, and engagement letter signing as a paying client. The engagement letter specifies that the client’s fees are covered by the Community Impact Fund and that services are provided at no charge. The attorney-client relationship, confidentiality protections, and professional obligations are identical to any other engagement.
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The Firm allocates resources to the Fund on a quarterly basis, informed by the capacity available after serving our subscription clients. We do not publish the specific formula, but we are committed to making the Fund a meaningful and growing part of our practice. We publish our impact data quarterly on this page so you can see what the Fund is doing.
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We track every pro bono matter in our case management system. Each quarter, we publish aggregate data on this page: total matters handled, organizations and individuals served, attorney hours provided, and anonymized examples of the work. We do not disclose the names of pro bono clients without their written permission.
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