VIRGINIANS FOR
f ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY
Executive Director
Stephen A. Northup, Esq.
Associate Director
Matthew Sellman
Executive Board
Matthew Engle, Esq.
Board President
Mary Atwell
Helena Cobban
Greg Gelburd, M.D.
J erry Givens
Michael Hash
Phylissa Mitchell, Esq.
Linell Patterson
Beth Panilaitis, MSW
Rev. Lauren Ramseur
Meghan Shapiro, Esq.
Kent Willis
Advisory Board
Rabbi Daniel Alexander
Charlottesville
William G. Broaddus
Attorney General of Va. 1985-86
Del. Vincent F. Callahan
R- 34" District- McLean - Ret
Del. L. Karen Darner
D- 49" District - Arlington - Ret
Del. Albert C. Eisenberg - Ret
D- 47" District - Arlington
Del. Frank D. Hargrove - Ret
R- 55" District - Hanover County
Dwight C. J ones
Mayor - Richmond, VA
Bishop Charlene Kammerer
United Methodists of VA
Salim Khalfani
Virginia NAACP
Bishop Peter J. Lee
Episcopal Diocese of VA - Ret
Sen. Henry L. Marsh, Ill
D- 16" District - Richmond
Del. Harvey B. Morgan
R- 98" District - Gloucester
Jack Payden-Travers
VADP Director 2002-2008
Del. Kenneth R. Plum
D-36" District - Reston
Bishop Neff Powell
Episcopal Diocese of SW VA
Rev. Cessar L. Scott, Sr.
Baptist Gen. Convention of VA
Congressman Bobby Scott
D- 3 District
August 15, 2013
Dear Former Board Member:
VADP needs your help. Because of a combination of circumstances,
‘we are experiencing a short-term financial crisis. As former members
of the Board, you have previously demonstrated your commitment to
VADP and its mission. We are reaching out to you in the hope that you
will make a donation now to help us weather this storm.
Here are the circumstances that have led us to this point. For the past
several years, VADP's operations have been financed by a combination
of three primary sources of funding: (1) grants froma consortium of
foundations (chief of which is the Tides Foundation) that fund death
penalty abolition work; (2) beginning in 2009 a $100,000 grant froma
generous Virginia donor given in annual amounts of $25,000 overa
four year period; and (3) donations from individual supporters. These
funding sources have enabled VADP to employ an Executive Director
and an Associate Director, redesign and maintain a state of the art
website, and purchase and operate a Salsa database and email
management These resources have allowed us to make great
strides in building the foundation for a long-term and ultimately
successful death penalty abolition campaign in Virginia.
Recent developments have caused us to cut back these resources and
now threaten our ability to continue to operate. For the past three years,
we have not received any funding from the Tides-led consortium of
foundations; although we will continue to apply for grants from this
group, we believe it is unlikely that we will receive funding in the near
future, as they appear to have decided to concentrate their grants in
states that are close to abolition. Then, our generous Virginia donor
declined our request to renew his grant for another four years to give us
time to become financially self-sufficient without his assistance.
Although our third primary source of funding has grown steadily (from
2008 to 2012, it has grown from $34,000 to $59,000), it is not yet
sufficient to enable us to operate with a full panoply of resources.
Approximately a year ago, our Executive Director stopped taking any
salary and began working solely as a volunteer. Earlier this year, we
reduced our Associate Director to part-time status. We have continued.
to maintain our website and Salsa database.
Atits spring retreat, the VADP Board decided to embark on an effort to
accelerate the growth of our donor base and donations. That effort is
P.O. Box 4804, Charlottesville, VA 22905 * (434) 960-7779 * office@vadp.org * www.VADP.org
currently underway. The goal of this effort is, by sometime in 2014, to put VADP ina position to be
able to recruit and hire a full-time Executive Director as our sole employee.
Now even our reduced level of operations is injeopardy. Our fiscal sponsor, Virginia Organizing,
has told us it must freeze our operating account to ensure there are sufficient funds available to cover
responsibility for obligations -- primarily unemployment compensation -- that would accrue should
VADP cease to operate. We must raise at least $10,000 within the next three weeks to be able to
continue our reduced level of operations until the end of the year, when the results of our year end.
fundraising campaign should -- with the additional help of our Board's current effort to grow our
donor base -- provide us a sufficient cushion to get and remain back on our feet.
We view this request as a one-time extraordinary effort that we do not intend to repeat in the future.
We believe our steady growth in donors and donations, coupled with the Board's current efforts to
accelerate this growth, will put VADP on solid financial footing by 2014.
A member of the Board or staff will telephone you within the next few days to discuss this request
and answer any questions you may have. We thank you for your past support of VADP and hope
you will be able to respond generously to this request.
Sincerely,
Matthew Engle, Chair of the Board Stephen A. Northup, Executive Director
Mettt-Lf. tone With
P.O. Box 4804, Charlottesville, VA 22905 * (434) 960-7779 * office@vadp.org * www.VADP.org
