Harry Snyder
Principal
Grant Fund Administrator
Senior Grants Analyst
Mr. Snyder has been a member of the State Bar of California
since 1963. He has a long background and experience in cy
pres relief, philanthropic best practices (including grant review
and recommendations) and consumer protection. As the Director
of the West Coast office of Consumers Union he established
procedures, including modification of California's escheat
laws, for the Court, in the case of People vs. Avco Finance,
to authorize cy pres relief in class action cases. In the Levi
Straus case he and Consumers Union went further, acting as
Amicus, successfully arguing to the Court that the establishment
of the California Consumer Protection Foundation was a proper
exercise of the Court's equitable powers and an acceptable
way to facilitate the distribution of cy pres relief in that
case.
Another aspect of his work at Consumers Union was a national
project that captured the public assets of non-profit health
insurers and providers when they converted to for-profit corporations.
That work helped regulators, community groups and Attorneys
General establish Health Foundations to distribute these assets.
This work, too, was based on an extension of cy pres principles
as the next best use of these public funds. As a result of
this work over 160 Health Foundations have been established
nationally, with over $16 billion dollars in assets. The California
Endowment and the Wellness Foundation are two examples of this
work in California.
Mr. Snyder was appointed by the San Francisco
Superior Court as Cy Pres Fund Administrator for the
Vitamin Anti-Trust Cases Consumer Settlement Fund. This Fund
has over $45 million. In addition, he has contracted with the
California Attorney General to assist in the distribution of
the Salton settlement fund (George Forman Grill) $900,000;
the Mylan settlement fund, $1.8 million and the Taxol settlement
fund, $500,000. In addition to the funds listed on our Home
Page, Mr. Snyder has assisted plaintiff's counsel in the distribution
of other cy pres settlements including the Marianas Fund working
with the Tides Foundation. He has also provided pro bono services
to private and public counsel on the distribution of awards
and settlement funds.
Mr. Snyder is the author of “Protecting Class Action
Settlements” and is a leader in the development and implementation
of Best Practices for the distribution of awards and settlement
funds resulting from class action and parens patriae cases.
Mr. Snyder teaches a graduate seminar in Health Policy Advocacy
at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public
Health.
Carl K. Oshiro
Project Director
Carl Oshiro has been a member of the State Bar of California
since 1978 and has served as an Administrative Law Judge with
the California Department of Insurance, Legal Advisor to the
President of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC),
and Director of Special Projects for the West Coast Regional
Office of Consumers Union. He has served as Public Member and
Chair of the California Telecommunications Education Trust
(TET). Created by the CPUC, the TET made over $16 million in
grants to nonprofit organizations to inform California consumers
about telecommunications services and policy options. Since
2003, he has been involved in the due diligence review of the
over 1,400 Letters of Inquiry and 225 Grant Applications submitted
to the Vitamin, Salton, Mylan, and Taxol settlement funds.
Tanecia Echols
Project Manager
Tanecia Echols graduated from Golden Gate University School
of Law in 2004 and has a legal background in land use and regulation,
real estate transactions, and library and information science,
as well as extensive legal research and writing skills. In
addition to legal experience, Tanecia provides small business
consulting, management and bookkeeping to clients in the areas
of renewable energy and wealth management. Upon joining cypresfunds.net
in 2007, Tanecia has been involved with the distribution of
approximately $52 million in settlement funds and the administration
of over 155 grantees. Tanecia is responsible for the day to
day interaction with grantees, monitoring fiscal and programmatic
compliance of grantees and consulting with the Project Director
and Principal.
HOW CYPRESFUNDS.NET WORKS
Cy Pres Litigation Settlement Funds
Mr. Snyder engages national subject matter experts for the
planning and implementation of cy pres based distribution plans
for funds resulting from litigation. He and his colleagues
are very aware of and focused on the court and counsel's desire
to have transparency, objectivity and accountability in all
of the handling of cy pres relief, with particular attention
to addressing the harm to the plaintiffs and close adherence
to cy pres principles for the use of the funds. Together they
provide an evenhanded due diligence process aimed at finding
the best possible projects to recommend to Plaintiff's counsel
who then decide which grants to fund or recommend to the court
for funding.
They start with the settlement agreement and/or court order
for direction in the use of the funds. Where needed and appropriate
they interview experts in the field, including grant makers,
subject matter specialists and academics in order to help determine
the most effective criteria for the use of the funds. Where
feasible they obtain demographic or other data identifying
characteristics of the members of the injured class.
After plaintiff's counsel approve the criteria they are incorporated
into a Notice of Fund Availability which is approved by Plaintiff's
counsel. The Notice is given the broadest possible publication
and targeted outreach to assure that all interested and eligible
organizations and agencies are aware of the potential for receiving
funding and have an equal opportunity to compete for funds.
Mr. Snyder has established the web site, www.cypresfunds.net,
to aid in spreading notice of the availability of funds and
to facilitate applications for the funds. With cooperation
from foundations, non-profit organizations and government agencies,
the Notice is posted on many websites that likely applicants
review regularly. These Notices are linked to www.cypresfunds.net.
Provided below are examples of the links we include to facilitate
application for grant funds:
"For further information about
the Vitamin Cases Consumer Settlement Fund and Instructions
on how to submit a Letter of Inquiry, click on the links
below to view the Notice of Funds Availability and Grants
Process in either Adobe PDF or Word format.
Notice
of Funds Availability and Grants Process (Adobe PDF
format)
Notice
of Funds Availability and Grants Process (Microsoft
Word format)
To download the free Adobe Acrobat
click here.
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