The General Fund

Use of the General Fund is unrestricted.  The income of the General Fund is used to maintain the activities of the Foundation and occasionally to provide seed money for new ventures.  Each year the General Fund pays for the annual audit by Leaf and Cole, CPA.   It is also used to make extraordinary purchases for the Law Library.  Usually, these purchases are quite substantial, such as the purchase of the audio system for the upper reading room (made with funds from both the General Fund and the Lindley Fund).  (Smaller purchases can be made from other funds.)   There has been no typical periodic pattern for use of the fund, other than the audit.  The Library Director will ask the Board to make a purchase from this fund when the occasion requires.

The Law Library Fund

The income from the Law Library Fund is restricted solely for maintenance of or additions to the Public Law Library.  Most of the funds come from small donations wherein the donor has asked that the funds be used for the Law Library.

The Lindley Fund

Fred E. Lindley established this fund in 1965.  The income can be used for the general purposes of the Foundation, but in fact it has been used mostly for expenses of the lecture series, which is in keeping with the wishes of the donor.  Currently, it supports the Foundation’s overhead costs for the Witkin lectures.

Harden Scholarships

The income of the Judge Clarence Harden Fund is used to provide grants to worthy law students at local law schools.  The procedure set up is to rotate each year to a different school, asking the financial aid office of the school to provide the Foundation with six to twelve applications of worthy students, together with personal financial statements and a completed Foundation application form for each.  The Scholarship Committee of the Foundation is then sent copies of these documents which it uses to make its recommendations to the full Board.  The available funds for that year may be given to one or more worthy law students from the group whose applications have been received.

Judge Harden was a former member of the Board of Trustees.  After he left the Board, he set up the fund by his initial gift of $5000 on January 22, 1968.  His letter stipulates that any income not spent after three years should be added to principle.

Weinberger Awards

Established in 1971, the Weinberger Fund has donated an annual amount to the San Diego Historical Society's Institute of History for the Judge Jacob Weinberger Award for local legal history papers.  Judge Weinberger initially established the fund himself, and his descendants have made recent contributions to it.  The award is presented along with other awards at the Society's annual dinner.  James Werner, the previous Library Director, had served a term as the chairman of the committee judging those papers, and former judges William Yale and Manuel Kugler have also served on the committee.  Presently, the Foundation does not have anyone on the judging committee.  In August of 1986, the Foundation Board approved donating $600 each year to the Institute unless the income of the Weinberger fund changes.  The principal in this fund can be expended.

Oatman Fund

In 1972, Elinor S. Oatman created the Jack L. Oatman Memorial Fund.  Income can be used to purchase books on probate, real estate and trusts for the Law Library.

Place Fund

Income can be used to buy non-legal books for the Law Library.  Harry J. Place was director of the Law Library from 1918 to 1935.  The Place Fund pre-dates the establishment of the Foundation, which took over that small trust at its creation.

Rubin Fund

Ben B. Rubin set up the first restricted fund created after the Foundation began in 1961.  Income can be used to buy books on Jewish religious law for the Law Library, up to $100 annually.  The balance of income can be used to promote social justice, especially in the area of anti-Semitism.

Wideman Fund

This substantial fund was created in 1979 and completely expended in 1990.  Income and principal were used to purchase videotapes and equipment, with emphasis on tapes on trial techniques and practice.  A substantial portion of the Library's video equipment is a direct result of this fund.  Ernie Wideman was a young attorney with many friends in the trial bar who was tragically killed.

Werner Fund

This fund, created in honor of O. James Werner, previous director of the Law Library, who died in 1991 after serving as director from 1972 to 1987.  The fund is to be used to buy books on human rights and international law.

Witkin Fund

This fund was established along with the Bernard E. Witkin, Esq., Award, in 1995.  The Award honors "a member of the San Diego legal community for civic leadership and excellence in the teaching, practice, enactment or adjudication of the law."  A reception is held each year in May to present the award, as a fund raiser.  Revenue from the event covers costs, with remaining funds placed in the Witkin Fund, to be used to support the San Diego County Public Law Library, much as the Law Library Fund is used.  Since the Witkin Fund was Board-created, the Board can establish its use and pattern.  Presently, the Board places the charitable earnings from each dinner in the Law Library’s acquisitions budget for the purchase of practitioner-oriented law books, such as the type written by Bernie Witkin.  There is a reserve in the fund for continuing these subscriptions during lean years.

Abernethy Scholarship Fund

This fund was established by the family and friends of Judge Ronald Abernethy, upon his death in 1995.  The scholarship is to be awarded on a basis similar to the Harden Scholarship, except that there is to be a special emphasis in favor of students who are working their way through law school.  The scholarship is presently in the building stage.  It will begin awards when the corpus reaches $5,000.

Miller Fund

The James R. Miller, Jr., Fund was created in 1996 in his memory by his many friends.  The fund provides assistance to organizations which provide free or low cost legal services to the poor (e.g., Volunteer Lawyers Program or Legal Aid), supports non-bench activities by judges speaking or participating in programs which are intended to improve or assist the administration of justice, and provides quality legal educational programs and materials specifically designed to be of use to small businesses.  The Miller Fund Founders have held a dinner annually since 1999 to support enhancement of the fund.

Webb Fund

The James R. Webb Fund was created in 1997 in his memory by his estate in furtherance of his wishes.  The fund purchases environmental law books for the collections of the San Diego County Public Law Library.

Glore Fund

The Arthur L. Glore Fund was created in October 1997 in his honor by the Board.  Mr. Glore left the Foundation 10 percent of his estate, which was turned over to the Foundation in 1998.  Approximate value was $250,000.  Mr. Glore made no restrictions on the bequest, so the Board decided to preserve the corpus and use the income for purposes similar to the General Fund.  The income presently funds the public relations budget for the Public Law Library and supplements the support for the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program’s Law Library Clinic.