VIRGINIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY
Report for Grant No. TFR08-02701 ($30,000/Approved 11/5/08)
1. Goals and Objectives. VADP’s objective was to build organizational capacity and its membership base to advance
our strategic policy goals and provide a strong foundation for Virginia’s Abolition Campaign. The Grant allowed us
to employ two full-time staff members, an Executive Director and Admini: ive Director, b Ne ber 2008
and November 2009. This year-long period at full strength enabled us to engage and educate communities, build
support at the grassroots level, and achieve successes in nearly every aspect of our strategic plan. We held
om events across the state, funded a cost study, sent out a newsletter and two fundraising appeals, and
| ful h to major donor h. We inued to cement relationships with or ional
allies such a as the ACLU of VA, The Virginia Catholic Conference, the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
and others to propel the abolition movement to one of greater prominence in Virginia.
In the past two years VADP has signed up 500 new members at over 30 events and via our website, www.vadp.org.
VADP-sponsored events since our last report have included an “Innocence Tour” consisting of seven events in five
days at five different universities across Virginia and featuring death row exoneree Shabaka Waqlimi and our former
Executive Director, Beth Panilaitis; a film screening of “Juan Melendez ~ 6446” at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic
Church in Charlottesville (co-sponsored with The Virginia Catholic Conference); and an event in Alexandria, VA
featuring death row exoneree Shujaa Graham. These and other events attracted hundreds of attendees from
throughout the Commonwealth and enabled us to build, educate and energize our membership.
VADP has i d with our bers in other ways as well. In the past two years we have added 700
addresses to our email list, a 50% increase. Through communications we call “Action Alerts” we notify people what
actions they can take to help prevent an execution, update them on pending cases, and promote events and fundraising
initiatives. In the fall of 2009 we issued an eight page color newsletter which detailed current actions in Virginia
regarding the death penalty, local events, and ways our supporters can get involved and volunteer. Two direct mail
fundraisers, one at the end of 2009 and one this past June, raised $12,000 and continued our commitment to keep our
membership informed.
Our website consistently averages around 20,000 unique visits per month, with a peak of 27,800 last November, at
the time of the execution of John Muhammad. VADP staff updates the website regularly to keep information
accurate, immediate, and relevant. Over the last two years our website has become ever more integral to our
organization as a means of communication and is the portal by which a fast growing group of followers keep up with
us on Twitter and Facebook.
Fundraising efforts have met success on a number of new levels over the past year. Our most recent effort occurred
last month when one of our board members, Lynn Greer, formed “Team Abolition” with a friend and took the
Alcatraz Challenge, a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco. She completed the swim and her efforts raised
over $4,500 for VADP from donors across the United States and Europe. We have also improved our approach to
major donor fundraising by focusing more on relati building than on making the “ask.” This has paid off so far
with a commitment last fall by a new donor of $25,000 per year over four years. We have made several inroads to
new major donors through a further nurturing of existing relationships as well as through meetings with “grasstop”
allies like former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. VADP Board President Jon Sheldon recently gave a presentation to
a meeting of National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) state affiliates on our model for large donor
outreach. In 2009 VADP successfully raised $9,000 to fund a preliminary study by two Radford University
professors on the cost of the death penalty in Virginia. We also raised $5,000 through our website as part of a
matching grant received from the Unitarian Universalist Fund for a Just Society.
2. Challenges. In November 2009, our financial situation forced us to reduce our AD from full time to 10 hours per
week. As a result, our ED took on some administrative duties that took time away from her primary functions.
Despite reduced organizational capacity VADP maintained its momentum through the spring of 2010. However, we
encountered our most significant challenge on May 1“, when we lost our Executive Director to another non-profit
organization. Fortunately, shortly after her departure, Beth took the time to attend the annual Strategic Planning
Retreat with our Board and organizational allies to help craft our strategic and policy goals for the upcoming year,
which are being impl dbya bination of i d involvement by our Board members and an increase in
our AD from 10 to 20 hours per week.
One significant bys product of our reduced organizational capacity this year has been a delay in VADP’s upgrade to
a web-b: t At the time of our last grant report we were on a waiting list for use of the online
database provided by Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) to state abolition organizations. We are now in the data integration
process and expect the full transition to be completed this fall.
The economic downturn that began nearly two years ago has had a major effect on our organization. Our inability
in 2009 to solicit major donor funding at predicted levels resulted in VADP exhausting the two year funding provided
by the Tides Foundation in slightly more than one year. This has resulted in a precarious fiscal situation for most of
the past year and, as described, limited our staff capacity and programming activities this summer and fall.
To meet these challenges, our Board of Directors has expanded both its numbers and its level of involvement in
VADP activities. VADP’s Board of Directors now stands at twelve persons and has five functioning committees,
each held accountable for their areas of oversight. Members added since our last report include a former columnist on
global affairs for The Christian Science Monitor, a former Public Defender who is now co-director of the Innocence
Clinic at UVA Law School, an activist with Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, an assistant professor of
criminal justice, and the former chief warden on Virginia’s Death Row for 23 years.
In addition, the Board has recently decided to retain as its new Executive Director a current Board member who will
soon retire from his law firm partnership. As an attorney with more than 30 years of professional experience,
including extensive pro bono and court-appointed experience rep ing inmates on death row, our new ED will
bring a broad and advantageous skill set to the position.
Our abolition strategy has shifted slightly in light of the continuing recession, to one focused less on educational
events, which are expensive to sponsor and require travel, to one gauged more towards legislative victories and the
effective imp] ion of reform in the criminal justice system in order to reduce the number of death
sentences.
3. Evaluation Process. Our Board, with input from our members and allies, evaluates VADP’s performance. Our
metrics of evaluation are:
a. Did we achieve our strategic goals as laid out in the initial grant proposal?
b.Did we use the funds granted us in a responsible and effective manner?
c. How could we have changed our approach to be more successful in the future?
We believe we have been successful by the first two measures. The momentum built through operating at full
capacity was palpable and resulted in many successes that would not have otherwise taken place. The funds were
exhausted earlier than expected but were used prudently and to great effect. Lessons learned for more success in the
future include a new model for major donor outreach, a more efficient and powerful database, and a more realistic
outlook when budgeting funding levels in the current economic environment.
See the attachment for a more detailed description of how we spent the grant. The only other significant funder
(besides a small grant and contributions from our members and supporters) has been the Unitarian Universalist Fund
for a Just Society, which gave us a $5000 matching grant.
VADP 2009 Operating Budget
Income Projected YTD Actual
Foundations
Tides Grant 50,000.00 $91,600.00
Other Grants 20,000.00 $5,750.00
Member Contributions
Religious Institutions and Orgs. 8,000.00 $5,180.00
Individual Contributions 32,000.00 $23,219.59
Major Donors (500+) 44,000.00 $35,874.00
Other Income
Events/Honoraria 6,000.00 $2,550.00
Cost Study 9,000.00 $9,000.00
Total Income 169,000.00 $173,173.59
Expenses Projected YTD Actual
Salaries & Benefits
Executive Director - Salary 48,974.38 $48,974.31
Executive Director - Benefits 6,450.00 $8,195.86
Administrative Director - Salary 40,983.28 $36,803.75
Administrative Director - Benefits 12,563.43 $15,249.92
Publications
Fund Appeals 10,400.00 $3,327.09
Other Expenses
Cost Study 9,000.00 $8,200.00
Travel 8,500.00 $1,524.28
Computers & Software 4,500.00 $99.98
Lobbying 150.00 $392.81
Website 200.00 $249.90
2 Cell Phones 1,920.00 $659.08
Toll Free 800 number 200.00 $165.65
Office Supplies 1,200.00 $430.42
Postage 800.00 $770.29
Events 2,000.00 $3,627.93
Advertising 2,500.00 $250.00
Board Expenses 0.00 $1,357.91
Tax Preparation 600.00 $500.00
Misc.(inc. cc processing) 1,850.00 $613.89
Bookkeeping, audit, insurance 4,800.00 $2,174.08
Total Expenses 157,591.09 $133,567.15
VADP 2010 Operating Budget
2010 Projected 2010 YTD Actual
Income
Foundations
Grants 10,000.00 4,600.00
Member Contributions
Religious Institutions and Orgs. 10,000.00 3,400.00
Individual Contributions 25,000.00 19,372.50
Major Donors (500+) 45,000.00 7,000.00
Other Income
Events/Honoraria
Total Income 90,000.00 34,372.50
Expenses
Salaries & Benefits
Executive Director - Salary
(includes SS & Medicare) 48,975.00 16,952.64
Executive Director - Benefits 6,450.00 2,774.93
Executive Director Retirement 2,300.00 787.40
Administrative Director - Payroll 8,400.00 5,950.36
Administrative Director - Benefits 0.00
Adi Director Reti tt 0.00
Unemployment 4,000.00 5,619.44
Publications
Fund Appeals 5,000.00 4,108.96
(inc. postage, printing)
Other Expenses
Study
Travel 1,800.00 869.29
Computers & Software 500.00 22.15
Lobbying 150.00 0.00
Website 200.00 59.94
2 Cell Phones 850.00 373.32
Toll Free 800 number 150.00 77.13
Office Supplies 750.00 42.29
Other Postage / Printing 700.00 197.48
Events 2,300.00 900.34
Advertising 300.00 0.00
Tax Preparation 500.00 0.00
Misc.(inc. cc processing) 500.00 78.05
Bookkeeping, audit, insurance 2,700.00 961.78
Total Expenses 86,525.00 39,775.50
