The Law Society charity has allocated more than 5 million in grants to 200 organisations, reports Chris Baker.

The Law Society Charity celebrated its 30th birthday last month.

In that time it has allocated grants of more than 5 million to 200 charities and organisations as diverse as a helpline for children in prison to training for people working with bereaved relatives facing inquests.

'The charity was originally set up as a way of funding the Law Society's education programmes,' says Nigel Dodds, senior partner at Northumberland firm Alderson Dodds and chairman of the charity since 2000.

'But it's moved on quite considerably from there.'

The charity is independent of Chancery Lane, with a board split equally between Law Society Council members and other solicitors.

The money comes 'almost entirely' from the Society but some work is done in partnership with other organisations.

Mr Dodds says he wants the charity to become more proactive.

Priorities such as promoting diversity- it helps the Society manage its own diversity programmes - and support for trials abroad have been established.

The promotion of human rights work - such as Lawyers for Liberty - and pro bono work in capital cases are also priorities.

'We have given money to some of the less glamorous aspects of major cases,' says Mr Dodds.

'We have given back-office funding which doesn't grab the headlines but does help people.'

The charity supports schemes to raise awareness of legal issues, and education for lawyers in the interests of the public.

A recent example would be the donation of 5,000 to the charity Home-Start, which provides free confidential advice and support services for families.

The grant will be used to support a free legal service.

It also allocates funding to organisations and charities that provide support for lawyers who find themselves in need, such as LawCare and the Solicitors Benevolent Association.

The charity, as part of its new proactive role, also seeks out projects that will be supported by local law societies and groups, and exploring joint ventures with other charities, especially the charitable arms of law firms, Mr Dodds says.

The 15-year-old Citizenship Foundation has been the major recipient of the charity's money.

The government programme to raise awareness of legal and ethical issues for children and young people received start-up funding from the charity, and it has allocated the foundation 1 million since.

One of the foundation's key achievements has been its role in successfully lobbying for the introduction of citizenship training into schools in England as part of the curriculum.

It has also developed the Young Citizen's Passport, a guide to the law, and runs two mock trial competitions in magistrates' and Crown Courts.

Speaking at an event to mark the 15th anniversary of the foundation and the 30th of the charity earlier this month, Department for Constitutional Affairs minister David Lammy said: 'Explaining to the present generation of young people why public issues matter is crucial to the future health of our democracy.

They need to understand the systems and institutions that govern their lives.

They need to know what their rights and responsibilities are.

'They need to know how to become effective participants in society and the government is extremely grateful for the outstanding contribution that the Citizenship Foundation has made to this educative process over the past 15 years and the support the Law Society Charity has provided to enable them to do so.'

The charity is unusual in that it provides core funding.

'It's quite easy to get money for specific projects but the difficulty comes finding money to keep a charity going,' Mr Dodds says.

It provides the foundation with just such behind-the-scenes support, which does not have to be spent on any particular project.

It also provides 'seed funding', or set-up costs, after which an organisation has to find its own way.

The Solicitors Pro Bono Group received such funding.

'We're able to be a more sophisticated donor than many of the other single issue-type charities,' says Mr Dodds.

He says the next step is to raise awareness that the charity exists.

More deserving causes would benefit and it would boost the image of lawyers as being contributors to charity.

'We are now at the cutting edge of best practice,' he explains.

'If that's the case, then it's obvious there should be no problem for the profession in us having a high profile.

We've been doing good work for a number of years but unfortunately the public don't know about us and a lot of legal types don't either.'