Schopf & Weiss LLP
“We wanted to be smarter about our charitable giving.”
When business litigation law firm Schopf & Weiss LLP celebrated its twentieth anniversary, the partners decided to celebrate through charitable giving. Firm partner Art Howe explains why Schopf & Weiss became the first law firm to set up an endowed giving fund at the Trust:
“We felt we’d have the greatest impact by being focused. Being smarter and focused would benefit our chosen grant recipient and, in turn, would help the community.
“The Trust introduced us to Young Chicago Authors (YCA). As lawyers, we use the written and spoken word as a tool of persuasion like a carpenter uses a saw. YCA promotes self-expression and literacy. Its founder, an English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, started YCA with a Saturday Writing Program. YCA has since gone on to create
successful programs including the Louder Than a Bomb poetry competition, an online magazine for young women called GirlSpeak, and one for young men called Swagger.
“The Trust offers professional managed investment alternatives with low fees. But the reason why we selected the Trust was that the Trust knows Chicago. It has been around 93 years and has partnered with dozens of Chicago corporations. The fact that many of our clients, like Exelon and Illinois Tool Works, support the Trust meant a lot to us.
“As one firm, we can do good ourselves, but if three more firms partner with the Trust, we quadruple the impact. If ten firms join, the impact increases exponentially— making our profession’s contribution to the community that much more meaningful.”