Requesting Help from the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund

In 1978 the NRA Board of Directors established the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund to become involved in court cases establishing legal precedents in favor of firearms owners. To accomplish this, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, at its discretion, provides legal and financial assistance to selected individuals and organizations defending the right to keep and bear arms. The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund is a not-for-profit entity established under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund gets numerous requests for assistance. Therefore, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund has guidelines and requirements for submission of applications for the Board of Trustees’ discretionary review and a procedure for determining whether to fund an application. Cases presenting compelling unsettled or new issues of law are of special interest to the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.

The Board of Trustees normally meets three times a year: in the late spring, fall, and winter. A request for funding must be submitted to the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund not later than thirty (30) days prior to the Board of Trustees meeting at which the request is to be considered. Late applications will be considered only upon the approval of the Trustees assigned to review that particular case and only upon an emergency.

Litigation Funding Requests

Applications for funding to support litigation must be submitted by the attorney that represents the litigant in the matter for which funding is being applied for. Applications by a pro se litigant will not be considered. Requests for funding should include, at a minimum, the following information:

1. The legal or constitutional issue to be resolved and how they would have a widespread favorable impact.
2. A summary of the facts.
3. The background of the litigants or other parties.
4. A summary of past and projected administrative and legal proceedings.
5. The projected costs of litigation for the different stages of the case and an explanation of the basis for such projected costs, including the hourly attorney fees rate and the projected number of hours.
6. Other sources of funding and any amounts received and requested.
7. The probability of obtaining a favorable result and basis for conclusion.
8. The application must identify any person in a leadership position in your law firm (including, but not limited to, officers, directors, trustees, partners, owners, key employees, etc.) that is also an officer, director, trustee, or key employee of the National Rifle Association of America (“NRA”) or of any of the NRA’s affiliated organizations, including, but not limited to, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
9. The following two questions are about the litigant represented in the matter for which funding is being applied for (your “Client(s)”).
   
   1. If your Client(s) are individuals, please advise if any of your Clients are officers, directors, trustees, or key employees of the NRA or any of the NRA’s affiliated organizations, including, but not limited to, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
   2. If your Client is an organization, please advise if there is any person in a leadership position in your client’s organization (including, but not limited to, officers, directors, trustees, partners, owners, key employees, etc., of said client organizations) that is also an officer, director, trustee, or key employee of the NRA or any of the NRA’s affiliated organizations, including, but not limited to, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
10. If your Client is an organization, please answer the following questions:
    1. The organization’s full name.
    2. The organization’s address.
    3. The organization’s Tax Identification Number or Employer Identification Number (EIN).
    4. If the organization is tax exempt, the Internal Revenue Code section under which the organization is tax exempt; or if a government entity, the name of the government entity.
    5. The state of incorporation, formation, and/or residency of the organization.
    6. The organization’s entity type (corporation, LLC, unincorporated association, etc.).
11. If your Client is a shooting range, the following additional information must be provided:
    1. Whether there is an ownership interest.
    2. Whether the activity is challenged despite a range protection law.
    3. Whether the operation of the range is lawful.
    4. Whether the range was allowed to operate without a range protection law and is now threatened with a shut down.
    5. Whether the range is open to the public.
    6. The number of members of the range.

Research and Writing Funding Requests

NRA CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENSE FUND RESEARCH AND WRITING APPLICATION

Applicants seeking grants for research projects, such as law review articles, books, websites, or similar scholarship and research, should provide the following minimum information to be considered by the NRA CRDF Board of Trustees in evaluating such requests.

1. Describe the research project (e.g., book, law review article, research paper, website, etc.).
2. How will the research be disseminated?
3. Have you engaged or will you engage a publisher? If so please name the publisher and provide contact information. If you have not yet done so but intend to engage a publisher please provide a list of publishers or journals you will contact.
4. Will the research be posted on any website? If so, please identify the website.
5. What is the projected distribution of the research (e.g., how many site views, book purchases, law review reads or cites do you expect)? Please explain in detail how you arrived at your projection.
6. Please explain, in detail, why this project is necessary and how it will further the mission of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund. What gaps in current publications or research will your new research project fill? How do you foresee your new research being used?
7. How will your research benefit the public at large?
8. Are there other sources of funding that you have received and/or requested for this research project? If so, what are the amounts of these other sources of funding that you have received and/or requested for this research project? 
9. The following questions are limited to the particular research and/or writing project for which you have applied for funding by the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
   1. If you are an individual, please advise if you are an officer, director, trustee, or key employee of the NRA or any of the NRA’s affiliated organizations, including, but not limited to, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
   2. If you are or represent an organization, please advise if there is any person in a leadership position in your organization (including, but not limited to, officers, directors, trustees, partners, owners, key employees, etc., of said client organization) that is also an officer, director, trustee, or key employee of the NRA or any of the NRA’s affiliated organizations, including, but not limited to, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.
10. If your Client is an organization, please answer the following questions:
    1. The organization’s full name.
    2. The organization’s address.
    3. The organization’s Tax Identification Number or Employer Identification Number (EIN).
    4. If the organization is tax exempt, the Internal Revenue Code section under which the organization is tax exempt; or if a government entity, the name of the government entity.
    5. The state of incorporation, formation, and/or residency of the organization.
    6. The organization’s entity type (corporation, LLC, unincorporated association, etc.).

How To Apply

If the application is for funding litigation, then the application must be made by the attorney(s) representing the litigant in the matter for which funding is being applied for. Applications by a pro se litigant will not be considered.

Applications for funding must be made electronically, by the attorney representing the litigant, and must be submitted to [email protected].

The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund will not return submitted material. Therefore, originals should not be sent. Also, confidential, privileged and/or attorney-client materials should not be sent.

Conditions of Funding

If funding is granted, the grant will be limited to the case applied for only and only for the purposes which were specified in the application. Specifically, a grant does not extend to other cases or matters, even if they involve the same parties and/or arise out of the same facts and circumstance.

The decision to help finance a case in no way obligates the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund in any amount exceeding the amount granted, or in any other manner, nor does it establish an attorney-client, agency, or any other relationship between the Fund and the attorney or the attorney's clients. Any dispute between the attorney and the client for fees, expenses, cost or other matters are to be resolved between the attorney and the client, and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund shall not, in any way, become a party to such dispute.

The attorney's invoices will be paid upon submission of detailed bills by the attorney, conforming to all NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund requirements, which show the services performed, the date, the hourly rate (not to exceed $300.00 per hour) and the attorney or para-professional performing the services in regard to the case which application for funding was made for only and only for the purposes which were specified in the application. (The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund will not pay more than $300.00 per hour. This means that the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund will pay the first $300.00 for every hour billed. Thus, no matter what your hourly fee is, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund will only pay the first $300.00 per hour charged. If you charge more than $300.00 per hour, that is a matter for you and your client to resolve and any excess billed over that amount must be recovered from your client or another source.)

Furthermore, payments will only be made to the attorney and/or law-firm that made the application for funding. A Form W-9 must be completed by the attorney and returned along with the first submitted bill. Payments will not be made to the client directly. Receipts must also be provided for any disbursements listed on the detailed bills submitted.

As a condition to providing funding, the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund requires that the attorney furnish the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund with copies, as soon as they become available, of: (1) all pleadings, memoranda, and briefs filed by all parties; and, (2) all court orders, opinions, and decisions.  Additionally, you are required to submit brief written updates on or before December 1^st, March 1^st, and August 1^st of each year until the matter is concluded.  No invoices will be paid unless said updates are timely received.  (However, please do not send any privileged attorney-client materials.)   The failure to provide timely updates and/or to provide copies of pleadings may result in a revocation of the grant, invoices may be denied, and any remaining monies previously awarded to the case may be reallocated to the general funds of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund so that such funds may be made available for other deserving cases.

Furthermore, both the attorney and the client, who are a recipient of funding, agree to have their likeness and case used for fund-raising by the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund as a condition for receiving financial support.  (Again, please do not send confidential, attorney-client privileged, or other privileged materials.)

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