AMENDMENT PROJECT
PROPOSAL INFORMATION
Organization Name: Virginians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty (VADP)
Organization Address: P.O. Box 12222
Richmond State: VA Zip:
23241
Executive Director: Michael E. Stone
Email: office@vadp.org
Phone: (434) 960-7779
Contact Name (if not ED): N/A
Number of People on Staff: F/T-2 P/T-0
Organization Website: www.vadp.org
Tax Status of Applying Organization or Fiscal Sponsor: [Vv] 501(c)3
[ ]501(c)4
Federal EIN#: 54-1664106
Has your organization made the 501(h) election under the Internal
Revenue Code to have lobbying measured by expenditures?
[Iv] Yes [ ] No
If applying as a 501(c)3, does your organization also have a 501(c)4? [
]Yes [V]No
Grant Type: [Vv] General Operating
[ ] Project Support
Grant Period: 01/01/2021 to 12/31/2021 Total Number of Months
Covered by Grant: 12
Grant Amount Requested: $15,000
Organization Budget: $15,000 Project Budget (if applicable):
N/A
Will your organization/project budget include any lobbying? [v]
Yes [ ]No
If yes, you must submit a bifurcated budget.
Which strategic area(s) have you been invited to apply for? (Please check
all that apply.)
] 1. Reduce executions/sentences (advocacy or litigation)
[v] 2. Repeal (advocacy or litigation)
[ ] 3. Communications and/or unusual voices
Application Checklist: Please ensure that the following items are
completed/included with your proposal:
. Completed Proposal Information
. Organization Budget for Upcoming Fiscal Year (2021)
. Project Budget for Upcoming Fiscal Year (2021) (if applicable)
. Financial Documents
a. Current balance sheet (as of June 30, 2020 or after)
b. Profit and loss v. budget statement for previous year (2019)
c. Profit and loss v. budget statement for current year (2020)
d
e
BRWNH
. Audit or 990 for most recent available year
. IRS Tax Status Letter
Please return this document in MS Word format by 08/21/2020. Please
label this document as “Organization Name/Acronym 2021 Grant
Proposal.” Please send your completed application and all relevant
documents to grantproposal@8thamendment.org.
Grant Purpose
(In one to two lines, state how funding to your organization will assist the national
strategy and what you aim to achieve.)
VADP’s goal of Virginia becoming the first Southern state to abolish the
death penalty is within sight. This achievement would play a significant
role in finally eliminating capital punishment in the United States.
Background & Context
(Please give us an update as to where the state is on the use of the death penalty
and the prospects for change. In two paragraphs, tell us the three or four biggest
accomplishments of the organization over the last year.)
VIRGINIA UPDATE
Virginia is poised to become the first Southern state to abolish the
death penalty. No one has been sentenced to death in Virginia in
over nine years. There are only two men on death row and each of
their death sentences may be overturned in the federal courts. In
November 2019 Democrats seized control of the General Assembly
for the first time in twenty years, greatly increasing the chances for
abolition. Our current Governor, Ralph Northam, has said that he
would sign an abolition bill if it reached his desk. His term ends in
December 2021.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE PAST YEAR
In January 2020 the state Senate passed a bill to exempt people with
severe mental illness (SMI) from the death penalty by an
overwhelming bipartisan 32-7 margin. In the floor debate, Senator Bill
Stanley (R - Moneta) said: “We do not have the power our Creator has
to take life. We do not have the ability, morally, legally or otherwise.
Thanks to Senator Stanley's powerful floor speech, five Republicans
who opposed the SMI exemption in 2019 changed their vote and
supported the 2020 bill. Eleven of the Senate's nineteen Republicans
voted for this limit on Virginia's death penalty.
Stanley also promised to vote for abolition and challenged his fellow
pro-life Republicans to join him in opposition to capital punishment.
At least two other Republican Senators commented to the media
afterwards that they would rethink their positions based on Senator
Stanley’s remarks.
During the 2020 legislative session, VADP also supported bills to
abolish capital punishment, but the Senate Judiciary Committee voted
to defer consideration of abolition until the 2021 legislative session.
Leadership of the House Courts of Justice Committee then deferred
action on both the SMI exemption and death penalty abolition bills.
Neither was granted a hearing. Legislative leaders apparently felt
that this was one controversial issue too many to address in the 2020
General Assembly.
Despite these disappointments, VADP learned much about the
positions of key Senators. It now appears there may be sufficient
support in both legislative chambers for ending capital punishment.
Privately, we have been assured by leaders in the Senate and House
of Delegates that death penalty abolition will be debated and passed
in 2021.
The work of VADP Field Director Dale Brumfield building Republican
and Libertarian support for death penalty reform and abolition has
been crucial to our legislative work.
Between January and March when the pandemic shut down the state,
our Field Director had already spoken to eleven groups with a total
audience of 225, and registered 106 new VADP supporters. These
additions to our network were from principally Democratic and
Libertarian audiences in Northern Virginia.
Dale is maintaining contacts in the Tidewater region to keep them
updated on our progress, working diligently to maintain these
productive relationships so that he can reschedule speaking events in
the autumn, either virtually or in person. He is also cold-calling faith,
political and civic group leaders in other areas of Virginia - especially
Charlottesville and Williamsburg - whose moderate Democratic
legislators are key swing votes for death penalty abolition.
During the pandemic VADP shifted gears to create a series of four
Abolition University online education sessions for supporters during
April and May. The subjects were:
“ The National Death Penalty Abolition Movement and Virginia's
Key Role
“ The Important Role of Murder Victim Family Members in the
Abolition Movement
“ Conservative Opposition to the Death Penalty
“ The Key Role of Capital Defense Attorneys in the Abolition
Movement
Video recordings of all four sessions are available for viewing on the
VADP website.
VADP is reaching out to 80 members of the Virginia House of Delegates
who do not serve on the Courts of Justice Committee. Most have
never cast a death penalty-related vote. Our goal is to open a
dialogue with them on abolition and determine an accurate floor vote
count before the start of the 2021 legislative session.
So far, we have met virtually with 21 Delegates or their aides and have
many more meetings scheduled for the coming weeks. Of those 21
legislators, nine have expressed strong support for abolition and
three voiced their opposition. The remaining nine wanted more
information. We will follow up with those undecided House Delegates
to assess their positions in the coming months.
These meetings revealed the first Republican member of the House of
Delegates to clearly express support for abolition, Del. Carrie Coyner.
She may become a co-patron for our abolition bill in the House. She
helped identify several fellow House Republicans who she believes
may be ready to support an end to capital punishment.
Organizational Information
(Give a brief history of how the organization was started and the role it has played
in the death penalty abolition movement over the years.)
On November 9, 1991, a steering committee of 13 committed citizens
formed Virginians Against State Killing. In 1994 the organization’s name
was changed to Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP).
In its early years VADP was an “outsider” group, focused on protest
against the frequent use of capital punishment. Then board chair Jon
Sheldon led a process that transformed VADP into an “insider”
organization with a more professional structure and expertise that has
earned bipartisan credibility with the media, legislators, and
administration officials.
In recent years VADP has led a coalition of key organizations - including
the Virginia Catholic Conference, ACLU of Virginia, NAMI Virginia, and
other mental health groups - in a campaign to pass legislation to exempt
people with severe mental illness from the death penalty. We are now
focusing primarily on death penalty abolition.
Staff/Organizational Bios
(Provide very brief bios of at least two to three key leaders who will oversee this
work.)
Prior to becoming VADP Executive Director in 2015, Michael Stone
worked for 25 years in social ministry for the Catholic Diocese of
Richmond from 1984 to 2009. He also worked four years as a Field
Organizer and consultant for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty. In that role, he worked with abolition groups in Virginia and
other states. Since joining VADP in January 2015, he has worked to
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expand its funding and to identify opponents to the death penalty
among conservatives and murder victim family members.
Dale Brumfield brings a varied background as a commercial insurance
salesman, educator, and writer to his position as VADP Field Director. A
Virginia native, Dale has written ten books, including The Virginia State
Penitentiary: A Notorious History. He has authored numerous anti-death
penalty pieces for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, North of the James
magazine, Richmond Magazine, the Rappahannock Review and the
conservative political website BearingDrift.com. Since joining VADP in
May 2017, Dale has focused on public education among conservatives in
key legislative districts across the Commonwealth.
Proposal
(State the goals of the work that will be achieved over the next year. (i.e. We will
reduce death sentences in the state by providing litigation assistance to trial
attorneys; we will build support for legislative repeal by leading a broad-based
public education campaign in key areas of the state; we will lift unusual voices in
the media calling for change.) If applicable, please explicitly name the partners
with whom you will be working to achieve your stated goal and the geographical
focus of your work. This should be as brief as possible since you will be asked to
give more detail in the Benchmarks section below.)
VADP will continue to meet virtually with members of the House of
Delegates who do not serve on the Courts of Justice Committee.
Our goal is to secure at least 51 votes in favor of death penalty abolition
for the 2021 General Assembly session.
VADP will continue to build grassroots support for death penalty
abolition through public education with local religious, civic, and
business leaders in key legislative districts - including
Charlottesville, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Fairfax County,
and Prince William County. The moderate legislators who represent
these areas are key swing votes for death penalty abolition.
VADP will launch a death penalty abolition media campaign after
the November 2020 election that focuses on key constituent
groups - including conservatives, murder victim family
members, and prosecutors. VADP is collecting death penalty
abolition endorsements in sign-on letters from these three groups.
So far, we have the support of 19 conservative leaders (including a
Republican candidate for Governor and a former Republican
Congressman), 21 prosecutors (including seven current
Commonwealth’s Attorneys and two former Attorneys General), and 14
murder victim family members.
We plan to host a press conference announcing the signatories of the
conservative and prosecutor sign-on letters before the start of the 2021
Virginia legislative session.
VADP will work to abolish the death penalty in the 2021 Virginia
legislative session with the Virginia Catholic Conference and the ACLU
of Virginia. Prospects have never been better for ending capital
punishment in Virginia. The widespread calls for criminal justice reform
in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd earlier this year have
inspired great support for abolition among numerous Virginia state
legislators.
Our Senate abolition bill sponsor is confident that we have the votes to
pass abolition in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor. In the
House of Delegates leaders in the Courts of Justice Committee have
agreed to patron abolition. At this point, we estimate 48 votes in
support of abolition in the House of Delegates. We have four months to
advocate with legislators to ensure that we have majority support by
January.
Racial Justice Alignment
(In no more than one paragraph, please explain how your work advances racial
justice, and what efforts you are making to empower leaders of color and/or
impacted persons to become leaders in your campaign.)
After the police killing of George Floyd earlier this year, VADP issued a statement -
The Nation's Racism, Virginia's Death Penalty - to over 2,000 supporters and
posted it prominently on our website. The statement addressed the long history
of racial disparities in the use of Virginia’s death penalty: “Of the 1,390
documented executions carried out in Virginia since 1608, only four involved a
white person killing a black man or woman, all of them since 1997.”
In July, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the newspaper with the widest
distribution within the Commonwealth, published an op-ed by our African-
American board President, Kristina Leslie, Death penalty repeal is essential to
racial healing. The op-ed was distributed widely both within Virginia and across
the country. A copy of this op-ed is given as a follow-up to all of our virtual
meetings with legislators.
Recently, VADP finalized a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP) on a new initiative to link
death penalty abolition with wider criminal justice reform efforts. A newly
created position, Criminal Justice Organizer, will focus on the African-American
community, particularly religious leaders and their congregations. This new staff
person will be located at the Interfaith Center, but will work in close
collaboration with VADP. As part of the MOU, VADP pledged $10,000 toward
this joint effort.
Funding & Expenses
(Please briefly describe the other sources of income listed in your budget,
including grants, major donors and other fundraising efforts. Give a very brief
outline of fundraising effort going forward (no more than three sentences.)
In 2019 VADP raised 61% of its income from individuals, 31% from grants,
and 8% from faith communities. Increases in individual giving over the
past few years has been driven by two postal appeals, an annual report
mailing to major donors, “friend-raising” events, an annual awards
luncheon, and one-to-one meetings with major donors. Giving from faith
communities has leveled off in the past two years while identification of
potential new grant sources continues to be a challenge.
So far in 2020 it has been difficult to find alternative funding sources to
raise the $35,000 provided in past years from the Sisters of Bon Secours
and the Daughters of Wisdom from whom we are no longer eligible for
grants. We had been cautiously optimistic that the Bama Works Fund of
the Dave Matthews Band and the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation would
provide funding. Unfortunately, both retooled their 2020 giving in light
of the pandemic and focused their support on existing grantees.
Thankfully, VADP secured a $23,000 SBA Paycheck Protection Program
loan that should be fully forgivable. This loan and a one-time $10,000
gift from a former donor covered the budget shortfall from our two lost
funding sources for this calendar year.
A recent Virtual Cocktail Hour with Senator Tim Kaine resulted in ticket
sales and donations of $2,200 that has significantly helped with our
summer cash flow.
Our October 24th Annual Awards Luncheon will be an all-virtual event.
We plan to raise at least another $1,000 in special event ticket sales and
donations.
Benchmarks
(What are the specific outcomes that will be achieved by the end of the year?
Please list at least three quantifiable outcomes. Example: We will have assisted in
30 pretrial cases, or we will have conducted 20 public education events, or we will
have placed 20 voices in the media highlighting problems with the death
penalty.)
The following are specific benchmarks for 2020-2021:
The Field Director will meet with at least five civic, faith, and
business leaders in each of the target legislative districts -
Charlottesville, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Fairfax County,
and Prince William County - before the 2021 Virginia legislative session.
The Field Director will host at least one virtual or in-person public
education event in each target legislative district -
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Charlottesville, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Fairfax County,
and Prince William County.
VADP will convene at least 75 people for our virtual Annual
Awards Luncheon on October 24 featuring keynote speaker
Cassandra Stubbs, Director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. At
this event we will honor our Legislator of the Year (Republican Senator
Bill Stanley) and Citizen Advocate of the Year (Rachel Sutphin, a murder
victim family member).
VADP will obtain at least three media appearances - press release,
press conference, and/or op-eds. These will cover the signatories of
abolition sign-on letters from conservatives, murder victim family
members, and prosecutors between the November 2020 election and
start of the General Assembly in mid-January 2021.
VADP will meet with at least 50 members of the House Delegates
to discuss death penalty abolition and compile an accurate floor
vote count before the start of the 2021 legislative session.
VADP will confirm patrons (including Republican co-patrons in
each chamber) for death penalty abolition bills in the House of
Delegates and state Senate by December 2020. We will ensure that
these bills are filed early so that we have the bill numbers by January 1.
VADP will work to have floor debates on death penalty abolition
in both the Senate and House of Delegates and pass an abolition
bill in at least one chamber during the 2021 legislative session.
VADP will raise at least $45,000 before end of the 2020 to ensure
that there will be no VADP staffing cuts in the 2021 year. A $15,000
DPMF grant would ensure that we will reach this goal.
