Church of the Epiphany - Grant Application
Fiscal Year 2019 - 2020
To be considered for a grant, please answer the following questions about
your organization and limit your response to three pages. The application
must be received by the Church of the Epiphany no later than Friday,
February 1, 2019. Please send the application to the attention of Laurie
Weeda.
1. Contact information
Name of organization: Virginians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty_
Address: P.O. Box 12222 Richmond, VA_23241
Telephone: # 434-960-7779
E-mail: office@vadp.org
Contact person: Michael Stone, Executive Director
Signature: Michael E Stone
2. Please share the Mission Statement of your organization and how it
relates to Epiphany’s Human Concerns Mission:
The mission of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) is to
“end the death penalty in Virginia through education, organizing, and
advocacy.”
VADP’s mission relates to the parish Human Concerns Mission in several
ways:
We resolve to...INCREASE awareness among community members of the
need to respond generously to any of God’s people who are suffering,
whether it be from physical or emotional illness, deprivation of basic needs,
loss of dignity, or separation from meaningful relationships.
First, capital punishment is contrary to essential human dignity as
articulated by Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) and
affirmed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2266 & 2267).
Second, death row inmates are held in solitary confinement for years at a
time, depriving them of any relationships. This practice has serious negative
consequences and has driven one death row inmate insane. A recent court
case has forced the Virginia Department of Corrections to improve conditions
for death row inmates.
Finally, VADP has a close partnership with the Virginia Catholic Conference
in developing educational resources and legislative strategy at the General
Assembly. Feel free to contact the Conference Executive Director Jeff Caruso
about VADP at # 804-225-8565 or <jeff@vacatholic.org.
3. Grant amount requested this year: $ 2,000
4. If you received a grant last year, please explain specifically how
Epiphany funds were used. How many people were served by these
programs? Please include a testimonial or example of the impact the
grant has made on the organization, a program, individuals or families.
VADP recently received $250 from Church of the Epiphany in January 2018
& another $250 in October 2018. These funds were placed in our
organization’s general operating funds.
In the past year the VADP Field Director has met with hundreds of local
faith, social service, business, media, and political leaders in Martinsville,
Danville, Floyd, Elkton, Winchester, Lynchburg, and other smaller Virginia
towns. He has effectively reached out to people across the political
spectrum.
For example, he had a VADP display table at the convention of the Virginia
Federation of Republican Women. As a result, he was invited to speak about
our cause at five more local women’s clubs. At this conference he also met a
prosecutor who expressed support for our work.
In addition, he has spoken to many local Democratic and Libertarian groups
around the state. He has even won the backing of a former Circuit Court
Judge who presided over five capital murder trials in Virginia and had
sentenced an individual to death.
Last year 18 conservative leaders - including former Virginia Attorneys
General Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Earley and former Congressman Tom Bliley
- endorsed legislation to exempt people with severe mental illness from
capital punishment. A Republican Delegate introduced this bill in the House
of Delegates, but it was blocked by the committee chair. A Senate
committee referred the bill to the state Crime Commission for study, a
positive sign.
VADP’s next key step is to introduce a bill to abolish the death penalty in the
2020 legislative session with bipartisan sponsorship and support.
5. What is the purpose of requested grant funds? Please be sure to
outline how your project specifically benefits clients in the areas of
food, housing, health and welfare.
VADP is requesting funds for its general program operations to educate the
public about capital punishment and to organize citizens to seek an end to the
death penalty in Virginia
The organization convenes VADP supporters in northern Virginia,
Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk, and Roanoke. These gatherings will take
place twice a year - in the spring and fall.
VADP is working with the Virginia Catholic Conference, the ACLU of Virginia,
National Alliance on Mental Illness Virginia, and other mental health
organizations to build support in the 2018 session of the legislature for a bill to
ban the execution of people with serious mental illness. The patron in the House
of Delegates is a tea-party Republican from Chesapeake, Del. Jay Leftwich.
6. How are Epiphany parishioners currently involved in your
organization? Who are they? How may we be more involved with your
organization? How would you like to be involved at Epiphany?
Individual members of Epiphany are supporters of VADP. We do not keep
records of church affiliation in our database. However, we do know that at
least two parishioners are VADP members - Molly Smith and Laurie Weeda.
Parishioners would be most welcome to join the VADP network so that they
can receive legislative action alerts, updates on our work, and invitations to
regional meetings and education events. We can send VADP sign-up forms to
the church if you are interested.
VADP would be happy to present a public education event on capital
punishment at Epiphany or to participate in a parish ministry fair or similar
event. VADP could also staff an information table before and after Masses at
Church of the Epiphany on a weekend to distribute educational materials on
capital punishment in Virginia.
8. Please supply the following information from your current budget and
submit a copy of your most recent IRS Form 990, excluding_
attachments.
Total Budget (2018) $ 165,588
Grant Request $ 2,000 % of Budget
1.2%
Cash Balance $ 56,272 % of Budget 34.0%
Salaries $ 103,500 % of Budget 62.5%
Reserves $ 0 % of Budget
0.0%
Capital Expenditures $ 0 % of Budget
0.0%
Fundraising
Income $. 134,251 % of Budget 81.1%
Expenses $ 8,542 % of Budget 5.2%
Have there been significant changes in your operations or in your goals
in the last year that have affected your financial situation? If yes,
please explain.
Our biggest financial challenge in 2018 was the loss of one funder that had
provided $30,000 to $40,000 grants to VADP in the previous four years -
about 25% of our annual revenue.
Thankfully, VADP received a new grant of $15,000 from the Daughters of
Wisdom to partially offset the loss of this other funder. In addition, VADP
board members and staff have redoubled their efforts to expand membership,
identify and develop financial support from new donors, and seek new grant
funds.
Yesterday we sent unsolicited letters of inquiry to two family foundations in
Virginia that have supported organizations involved in criminal justice reform
efforts. We hope that they will consider funding for VADP.
Our 2018 end-of-year appeal generated $35,612. This is $10,497 more that
our 2017 year-end appeal. As a result, we began the 2019 with more than
enough cash to meet our budget needs.
We plan to put even greater emphasis on individual major donor cultivation
with the assistance of a development consultant from the Eighth Amendment
Project, the strategic leader of the national death penalty abolition
movement.
