St. Mary Catholic Church
a Human Concerns Endowment Fund Request Form
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Introduction:
The Endowment Fund was established to provide perpetual funds for people in need of food, clothing, shelter, or
health services. These funds may be given directly to help people in need or indirectly by contributing to
organizations located in the diocese. The funds should be used for people who reside within the parish or its
diocese, and must be re-applied for each year.
In 1981, St. Mary’s participated in the establishment of Marywood housing for the aged and disabled. Under the
terms of the program, the parish received compensation for the land it provided. Sometime later, a portion of
these proceeds was used to create The Fund for Human Concerns.
The fund was designed to operate for many years by adhering to a formula which channels a bulk of its earnings
to those in need, while preserving the core investment.
In the years since its inception, it has addressed a wide range of human needs.
Please print or type answers, continue your answers on the back if you need more space,
and return to St. Mary’s Human Concerns Office by June 26, 2020.
Name of organization: Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
If you have non-profit status, please provide us with your Non-Profit I.D.# __54-1664106
Address: P.O. Box 12222 Richmond, VA_23241
Contact person: Michael Stone Phone: _# 434-960-7779 Fax: N/A
E-mail: office @ vadp.org
Mission: “educating the public about alternatives to the death penalty”
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Population Served: _ Since VADP is not a service organization, there is no “population served.”
1. Do you have a specific project you want funded? Describe project and funding needed.
VADP is requesting $3,000 in funding for its general operations to educate the public about capital
punishment and to organize citizens to seek an end to the death penalty in Virginia. VADP works very
closely with the Virginia Catholic Conference in developing educational resources and legislative
strategy at the General Assembly. The VADP budget for the 2020 calendar year is $154,818.
2. If you do not have a specific project, how will you use any funding you receive?
In addition to its education and advocacy work, VADP convenes regional gatherings of VADP
supporters. Since we are unable to gather people due to the virus pandemic, VADP has instead hosted
a series of online video sessions for its supporters to hear updates and ask questions.
For the past three years our Field Director has been doing grassroots education & outreach in target
legislative districts in places like Martinsville, Danville and Chatham, Floyd and Galax, Elkton and
Shenandoah, Winchester, Lynchburg, Virginia Beach, and northern Virginia. He has been building
support from local religious, civic, and business leaders for death penalty abolition.
For the past five years VADP has worked with the Virginia Catholic Conference, ACLU of Virginia,
and National Alliance on Mental Illness Virginia on legislation to ban the execution of people with
severe mental illness (SMI). This bill passed the Senate by an overwhelming 32-7 bipartisan margin.
It was, however, never taken up for consideration by the House Courts of Justice Committee.
On the Senate floor, Republican Sen. Bill Stanley declared that he would support an end to capital
punishment. He was the first sitting Republican legislator to publicly call for death penalty abolition.
Unfortunately, both the Senate and House of Delegates elected to delay consideration of the first death
penalty abolition bill introduced in over a decade until the 2021 legislative session.
3. What are your organization’s goals for the next year?
VADP has a goal of seeking a vote to abolish the death penalty in the 2021 session of the Virginia
General Assembly. We are currently meeting with legislators from both major parties to identify
bipartisan patrons for an abolition bill in both the state Senate and House of Delegates.
VADP will continue to build bipartisan support for our bill to ban the execution of people with severe
mental illness. If we fail to achieve death penalty abolition in 2021, our back-up strategy will be to
limit capital punishment with the SMI exemption bill.
VADP continues to meet local leaders and build support for death penalty reform and, ultimately,
abolition. In the past year our Field Director gave 27 public education programs on the death penalty
events, including: Clifton Republican Women, Chesterfield & Rockingham County Libertarians, seven
local Democratic Party groups in Northern Virginia and Tidewater, Greenspring and Westminster at
Lake Ridge retirement communities in Northern Virginia, Virginia Beach Kiwanis Club, and three
regional prison ministry summits put on by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.
He also staffed VADP information table at the conferences of the Virginia Community Criminal
Justice Association and the Virginia Federation of Republican Women.
4. Please indicate how your organization’s specific goals relate to this funding request?
Any funding from St. Mary’s Human Concerns Endowment would support the organization’s core
work to build support for the reform and eventual repeal of the death penalty in Virginia. The
specific goals listed in the previous question would provide some modest steps forward to building
the political support needed for the abolition of capital punishment.
By the end of this year, death row could be empty. The last person sentenced to death in Virginia
in September 2011 had his death sentence overturned by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court. The two
remaining men on death row have appeals to strike their death sentences due to trial errors.
5. Do you receive United Way, Local, State or Federal funds? What percentage of your total
income are each of these sources?
VADP does not receive any United Way or government funding.
6. What are your other financial resources?
All of VADP’s income comes from individual donations or grants from faith communities or
private foundations.
