NAIP Membership
Eligibility
IOLTA programs located in all provinces, states and territories in Canada and the United States are eligible to join NAIP. An unlimited number of individuals from each NAIP member program may participate in NAIP activities.
Membership Benefits
NAIP membership provides civil legal aid funders with opportunities to learn from peers and experts, act collectively in support of civil legal aid, and strengthen their own organizations.
When an IOLTA program becomes a NAIP member, a door is opened to an array of benefits that support IOLTA leaders and staff in their work.
Professional and Educational Trainings
Through both in-person and on-line sessions, NAIP helps IOLTA leaders and staff develop and improve organizational practices related to revenue, grantmaking, and more.
Together with the American Bar Association Commission on IOLTA, NAIP sponsors semi-annual workshops covering relevant topics, such as recent or proposed changes in laws and policies and other factors and ideas affecting IOLTA programs and the people they serve.
Free Monthly Webinars
NAIP helps IOLTA leaders and staff keep abreast of a broad range of timely topics through free monthly webinars that respond to emerging member needs and current events. Webinars are recorded and saved in a members-only library for future reference.
Connections and Mutual Mentorship
IOLTA leaders and staff who participate in NAIP activities help each other. All participants have experience and knowledge to share, no matter how long they have been involved in an IOLTA program. Personal connections made through NAIP can help IOLTA programs apply best practices and demonstrate leadership on relevant issues.
Because there is usually only one IOLTA program in each jurisdiction of the United States and Canada, IOLTA leaders and staff do not have colleagues close by who understand the challenges and opportunities faced by IOLTA programs day in and day out. NAIP fills this gap. IOLTA leaders and staff who participate in NAIP have access to information that is not generally available to them back home.
NAIP maintains an up-to-date IOLTA Member Directory to help IOLTA leaders and staff stay connected. Click here to go to the Directory.
Collective Voice for Action and Funding
NAIP provides an infrastructure for collective leadership on issues affecting civil legal aid, such as public comments on governmental proposals, advocacy for funding, action on multi-jurisdictional bank policy changes, and press releases on significant issues.
Leadership is found not only within NAIP, but also within its partners, other national organizations with similar goals, such as the American Bar Association (Commission on IOLTA and Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense), the Legal Services Corporation, and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, among others.
NAIP has helped many of our members forge and advance relationships with the philanthropic community in support of civil legal aid and access to justice.
Presenters and Speakers
Many presenters for NAIP trainings and webinars are IOLTA leaders and staff who have knowledge and experience relating to various aspects of IOLTA programs. Often, NAIP lines up speakers from outside the IOLTA community to share information about actual or potential impacts of external factors on IOLTA programs or how best practices from other sectors can help improve the effectiveness of IOLTA programs.
Professional Management
From its creation in 1986 until 2019, NAIP was a volunteer-run association, relying heavily on the American Bar Association (ABA) for in-kind staff support on substantive, IOLTA-related issues. When the ABA reorganized its staffing, NAIP undertook an intensive planning process that led to NAIP becoming an independent association, managed by its own professional staff focused on serving NAIP members.
Access to Members-Only Resources
IOLTA leaders and staff from NAIP member organizations have access to an exclusive, password-protected portal. They will find:
- Online tools for peer-to-peer technical assistance and information sharing
- Contact information for all NAIP members and their participating staff
- A searchable library of IOLTA-related resource materials, including NAIP and IOLTA history, templates, policies, and more