Assignment of Dividends
How Your Assignment of Dividends to ABE Works — Your Policy’s Unique Charitable Giving Feature
Founded by the ABA in 1942, the American Bar Endowment (ABE) is a §501(c) (3) not-for-profit public charity. ABE fulfills its charitable mission of improving the administration of justice, one of the profession’s highest obligations, by making annual grants to support law-related research, public service, and educational projects and programs, including those conducted by the American Bar Association’s Fund for Justice and Education (FJE) and the American Bar Foundation (ABF).
ABE also makes Opportunity Grants to support boots-on-the-ground efforts to expand the availability of legal services to underserved communities. ABE maintains a Legal Legacy Fund for the permanent support of its grantees.
By participating in ABE's group insurance programs, designed for and available only to practicing lawyers and their families, you can contribute to these efforts. By enrolling in ABE-sponsored insurance programs, unless you notify the ABE otherwise pursuant to the procedures set forth below, you agree to donate to ABE your share of any dividends payable on the group policies for ABE to use for its charitable purposes. Donations of dividends to ABE are tax-deductible to the insured to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Members who donate dividends to ABE make a difference.
These funds, after administrative expenses, are a significant source of ABE's charitable grants and additions to the Legal Legacy Fund. Insureds who donate their dividends help meet their professional and public responsibilities, as well as obtaining valuable coverage for their families. About 83% of insured lawyers donate their dividends.
Insureds are notified each year by late January of the amount, if any, of their dividend for the prior year that has been donated to ABE. (Dividends are not guaranteed, and in any given year, a given policy may not pay a dividend; dividends will vary from year to year.)
Members who wish to request a refund of their dividends may do so.
The approximate percentage of premium available for refund
(if any) on each ABE-sponsored insurance policy will be published in the December/January ABA journal. You do not need to wait for this information as refund requests are accepted beginning January 1. If you do not want to donate your dividend to ABE, you must request a “refund” of your dividend as follows: any time after the first policy year of your participation, for each year that you want a refund of your dividend, ABE must receive a written request from you for refund (by email to dividends@abendowment.org, or by mail), by as early as January 1 but not later December 15 of the year for which a refund is requested.
ABE will send confirmation of any request received, and you should retain that confirmation for your records as proof that your refund request was timely received.
If you do not receive a confirmation within 3 weeks of sending a request to ABE, please contact the ABE. (Special instructions for new applicants are contained in the application and apply to any dividends earned during the first policy year only.)
Donation acknowledgments of your dividend, or dividend checks (if applicable), are mailed by late January the following year. If you receive a donation acknowledgment but you did not intend to donate your dividend to ABE, you may request a one-time waiver of the December 15 deadline by asking for a refund, if you have not previously requested such a waiver.
Please note: Insureds who do not want to contribute dividends to ABE must make a written request for refund each year, using the procedures above. When you sign the application for insurance, you are agreeing to donate your dividends unless you otherwise notify the ABE to request a refund. Do not sign the application if you do not agree with these procedures.
"The ABE’s grant to the ABF not only allows us to conduct our innovative and influential research, it is also the catalyst for nearly all the work of the ABF."