About — The Forstall Foundation

What We Do

Our mission

The Forstall Foundation invests in the next generation of New Orleans — one school, one student, one year at a time. We fulfill that mission with care, presence, and the same promise our family has kept since 1997: we treat people the way we'd want our own family treated.

Who we help

Through Elevate NOLA, our flagship program, we stand beside one underserved New Orleans school for the full academic year. Right now, that means the students, teachers, and families of Leah Chase School, a growing elementary school — funded programs from music to reading to the Food Lab, and one signature day that brings the whole neighborhood to the table.

How We Operate

We keep it concentrated. One partner school, five funded programs, and one community event a year — because one deep partnership puts every dollar where kids actually feel it.

Programs run through the school year, shaped with school leadership. Volunteers carry the events. And every May, founding sponsors receive a full impact report: where every dollar went and what the school keeps.

Every dollar stays in New Orleans, doing work you can see.

Our Story

We're just getting started — on purpose

Most foundations open with a long history. Ours opens with a long habit. The Forstall family has been giving back to New Orleans for nearly three decades — the Foundation is simply the moment that habit got a name, a structure, and a mission big enough to match it.

1997

The promise begins

Chip Forstall opens his own practice with one belief: treat people the way you'd want your own family treated. The Law Offices of Chip Forstall becomes a New Orleans fixture — and so does the family's habit of giving back.

The Decades Between

A lifetime of quiet giving

Community contributions without press releases. The Chip Forstall Jingle placed in the hands of homegrown musicians — a celebration of the artists who give this city its sound. Young attorneys mentored into careers. Not for recognition; because that's what you do for the place that made you.

A New Generation

Jonathan's vision

As Jonathan Forstall steps into leadership of the family firm, he sees what the scattered giving could become with focus: a serious, structured community impact — measured, concentrated, and built to last beyond any single check.

2026

The Forstall Foundation is born

As Chip steps back from the daily practice of law, father and son turn the family habit into a 501(c)(3) with one flagship program: Elevate NOLA.

2026–27

Year one: Leah Chase School

Our first Elevate NOLA year begins — five funded programs and Leah Chase Day at a growing elementary school that carries one of the city's greatest names. This is chapter one. Founding sponsors write it with us.

Who We Are

The family behind the Foundation

A father who spent a lifetime giving back, and a son determined to make that giving move mountains. Read their full story →

Chip Forstall

Founder

For nearly thirty years, Chip has been one of New Orleans' most recognizable advocates — and one of its quietest givers. From community causes to championing local jingle artists to mentoring the young attorneys coming up behind him, his philanthropy has always run on one rule: show up for the place that made you. The Foundation is his next chapter, with his whole heart in it.

Jonathan Forstall

Managing Partner

Jonathan leads the family firm into its second generation — and brings that same builder's energy to the Foundation. His vision: take the family's lifelong habit of giving and give it structure, focus, and accountability, so the impact is something you can see, measure, and grow. Elevate NOLA is that vision in motion.

Teamwork Counts

Backed by a family, not just a fund

The Law Offices of Chip Forstall

Since 1997, the family firm has stood with New Orleanians through their hardest moments — and its team, its reach, and its relationships across the city now stand behind the Foundation too.

When we say "The Forstalls Take Care of It All," the Foundation is what that promise looks like for the next generation.

Visit the Firm

Our partner: Leah Chase School

Our first Elevate NOLA partnership is with a growing New Orleans elementary school named for the Queen of Creole Cuisine — a school that shares our belief that a shared table can change a community.

We shape every program alongside its leadership and teachers, because the people in the building know best.

Explore Elevate NOLA

Trust & Transparency

Funding & financial accountability

The Forstall Foundation is funded by individual donors, local businesses, founding sponsors, and in-kind gifts — and we treat every one of them the way we've treated every client for thirty years: like family.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization — contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law
100% of every dollar stays in New Orleans
Founding sponsors receive a full year-end impact report each May
EIN and financial information available upon request

Two generations. One promise.