Taft In The Community

At Taft, we believe that communities thrive when people invest their time, energy, and expertise in making a meaningful difference. Since 1885, our professionals have been unwavering in their commitment to public and political service, working to strengthen neighborhoods, schools, and local charities. This dedication is woven into our history, reflects our present values, and continues to shape our future.

As illustrated through the examples below, Taft attorneys and staff members actively engage in community service through volunteer support, pro bono services, financial contributions, and sponsorships. Taft members serve in leadership roles across a wide array of boards, including those focused on professional, educational, arts, religious, charitable, and civic organizations.

Atlanta

Cheers Community Partnership Initiative
Each year, Taft’s Atlanta office selects a local nonprofit champion, culminating with an annual Cheers fundraiser celebrating the partnership. Throughout the partnership, the firm deepens its impact by volunteering time, providing pro bono services and event sponsorships, and building awareness through internal and external outreach. Since 2013, the firm has raised over $650,000 for its annual community partners through Cheers. Our current nonprofit partner is Westside Future Fund, a nonprofit working to strengthen Atlanta’s historic Westside neighborhoods by supporting equitable development, affordable housing, economic opportunity, and quality-of-life initiatives for Westside residents.

Holiday Giving Partnership with Mercy Care
Taft’s Atlanta office has partnered with Mercy Care for over a decade, supporting children and families in need during the holiday season. Mercy Care is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health and health equity through comprehensive medical and social services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, poverty, and linguistic isolation across Atlanta. Every year, the Atlanta office sponsors families in need and hosts an annual holiday celebration, complete with gifts, crafts, games, and festive activities for the entire family.

Chicago

Greater Chicago Food Depository
Taft’s Chicago office volunteers throughout the year, packing and sorting bulk items into individual and family portions for delivery to multiple distribution sites. As Chicago’s food bank, this nonprofit food distribution and training center is committed to ending hunger in the community, working through a network of 700 pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters to serve 170,000 meals for adults and children in Cook County every day.

Race Judicata – Chicago
Each year, Taft’s Chicago office participates in Race Judicata, a 5k run/walk supporting Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS). The race is the primary fundraiser for CVLS, which provides free services to thousands of low-income Chicagoans annually through a group of more than 2,100 volunteer attorneys.

Women Employed
Taft’s Chicago office supports Women Employed, an organization advocating for women in the workplace to effect policy change, expand access to educational opportunities, and fight for fair and inclusive workplaces so that all women, families, and communities thrive. Each year Taft participates in The Working Lunch, an event that brings together thousands of supporters. Partner Kris Kolky is a member of the Advisory Committee.

Cincinnati

Cincinnati Works
Taft’s Cincinnati office helps Cincinnati Works carry out its vision of eliminating poverty in the local community. Cincinnati Works offers area residents career and financial coaching to help them advance to economic self-sufficiency through employment. The nonprofit organization also partners with regional employers to solve a range of workforce needs, including employee retention and support for second-chance hires.

Cleveland

Minds Matter Cleveland
Taft’s Cleveland office is proud to support Minds Matter, an organization dedicated to helping hard-working and high-achieving students from low-income situations get to and through the best college for them. To bridge the opportunity gap, Minds Matter connects students with the resources and relationships necessary to achieve success, helping them reach their true potential and become the leaders of tomorrow.

St. Herman House
Taft’s Cleveland office is proud to support St. Herman House, whose mission is to shelter and support homeless men on the path to well-being and independence and meet the basic needs of people in the Greater Cleveland community. Taft attorneys and staff have volunteered for several years to serve dinner at the shelter.

Cristo Rey Network
Taft’s Cleveland office supports St. Martin de Porres High School as part of the nationwide Cristo Rey Network of 39 high schools that provide a career-focused, college preparatory education to students with limited economic resources. Through rigorous academics, coupled with real-world work experience, St. Martin students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and in life. The program is an opportunity for students to shape technical skills, build impressive resumes, learn about careers, and develop lifelong learning behaviors.

Columbus

Freedom a la Cart
Taft’s Columbus office is proud to support Freedom a la Cart, whose mission is to provide support to survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation, build self-sufficiency, and create a pathway to freedom. Freedom a la Cart makes meals more meaningful by combining fresh, flavorful cuisine with life-changing employment and impactful services to survivors of human trafficking. Taft supports Freedom a la Cart through donations, event sponsorships, and frequent orders of their delicious catering.

Stefanie’s Team of Hope
Taft’s Columbus office supports Stefanie’s Team of Hope, a community of people who ride Pelotonia in honor of Stefanie Spielman and all those affected by cancer. Since 2010, they have raised over $3 million in the fight to end cancer, with 100% of every dollar going toward innovative life-saving cancer research at The James Cancer Research Hospital.

Dayton

Clothes That Work
Taft’s Dayton office sponsors Clothes That Work, a women-led nonprofit that provides professional clothing, image counseling, and training for job seekers in Montgomery County, Ohio.

Women’s Wellness Fund
Taft’s Dayton office proudly sponsors the annual Ribbon of Hope Luncheon, a fundraiser for women’s wellness. More than 400 business and community leaders attend the event, featuring a nationally known speaker who presents on breast cancer and women’s health issues.

Detroit

Beyond Basics
Taft’s Detroit office is a proud supporter of Beyond Basics. A nonprofit organization founded in 1999, dedicated to enhancing literacy among students. Every fall, Taft Detroit participates in its annual Beyond Basics event to make a significant impact: the One Coat, One Act of Kindness, One BIG Impact Coat Drive. Its goal is to keep over 2,000 local Michigan children warm during the winter by providing new and used coats in various sizes to children in need.

ALS of Michigan
Taft’s Detroit office supports ALS Michigan, a voluntary nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the fight against ALS. Every fall, the Taft Detroit office participates in its annual fundraiser walk, with funds raised providing the following services at no cost to families: referrals and resource guides, workshops and seminars, equipment loans, augmentative and alternative communication center, home visits, peer counseling, support groups, and respite care services.

Indianapolis

Ralph Waldo Emerson School 58
Since 2011, Taft’s Indianapolis office has contributed and pledged nearly $2 million to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Indianapolis Public School 58. Through employee donations to the Shepherd Community Center, Taft supports after-school programs and additional learning opportunities to advance academic achievement. Taft employees volunteer their time and talents and host an annual food drive. The firm also supports the needs of School 58 families by providing compassionate care assistance, including community outreach programs and training for parents to support employment.

Special Olympics Indiana
Taft’s Indianapolis office actively supports Special Olympics Indiana and its mission to create a better world by fostering acceptance and inclusion of all people. Taft Indianapolis partners Elijah Hammans and Trent Sandifur serve on the board of directors, and the firm is a corporate sponsor. In addition, Taft employees have participated in the Polar Plunge, the organization’s signature event, raising funds to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

Minneapolis

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Taft’s Minneapolis attorneys and staff help build homes for Habitat for Humanity on an annual basis. Habitat for Humanity works to eliminate poverty housing in the Twin Cities and advance access to safe, decent, and affordable housing for all.

Mountain West

LAW SCHOOL… Yes We Can!
Taft’s Mountain West office is a proud sponsor of “LAW SCHOOL… Yes… We Can,” the first law school pipeline program in Colorado. This initiative introduces Fellows from diverse backgrounds and their families to the legal profession through mentorship. The program offers opportunities for exposure, including presentations by law school admissions directors, visits to law school campuses, and informative sessions with financial aid counselors on funding a legal education.

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Denver, Southern California, and Central & Northern Arizona
Taft’s Mountain West office is a proud sponsor of Ronald McDonald House Charities. RMHC is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families when a child is seriously ill or injured. Taft collects new, unwrapped toys, books, games, and other items each year to make the holiday season brighter for children and families in need. The office also hosts new household-item drives throughout the year to support families’ ongoing care while their children receive treatment.

Educating Children of Color (ECOC)
Taft’s Mountain West office invests in ECOC, a registered nonprofit organized to dismantle the cradle-to-prison pipeline for children of color and children living in poverty through education, by providing a scholarship for rising law students to use toward the educational costs of law school.

Washington, D.C.

Cheers Community Partnership Initiative

Each year, Taft’s Washington, D.C. (Dupont Circle) office selects a local nonprofit to champion, culminating in an annual Cheers fundraiser celebrating the partnership. Our current nonprofit partner in D.C. is Calvary Women’s Services, which empowers women experiencing homelessness to transform their lives through comprehensive housing, health, education, and employment programs. Throughout the partnership, the firm deepens its impact by volunteering time, providing pro bono services and event sponsorships, and building awareness through internal and external outreach. Since 2013, the firm has raised over $650,000 for its annual community partners through Cheers.

Lombardi Women
Taft’s Washington, D.C. (Dupont Circle) office supports Lombardi Women, an annual event benefiting breast cancer research at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research. The event brings together women from across the Washington region to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer prevention, treatment, and research. Over the past 20 years, Lombardi Women has raised more than $5 million for pioneering breast cancer research.

A longtime resident of downtown Cincinnati, Taft’s presence includes the Taft Center, an innovative, multi-functional reception space for meetings, seminars, social events, and community causes. The firm’s active involvement in local civic and community organizations helped inspire the multi-purpose space.

The Taft Center serves as a meeting and conference site, as well as a reception space for networking events and mixers hosted by Taft clients and guests.