Human Concerns Endowment Fund Request Form
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 27, 2019.
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”
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 2019 calendar year is $152,496.
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 in northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk, and Roanoke. These regional
gatherings take place twice a year — in the spring and fall.
For the past two years our Field Director has been doing grassroots education & outreach in target
legislative districts far from the state’s urban centers — Martinsville, Danville and Chatham, Floyd and
Galax, Elkton and Shenandoah, Winchester, Lynchburg, and southwestern Virginia. He has been
building support from local religious, civic, and business leaders for death penalty abolition.
For the past four 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). We had a significant breakthrough in January 2019.
In January 2019 the Virginia Senate approved this bill to exempt people with severe mental illness
from the death penalty with bipartisan support. Our Field Director had organized constituent support
for three key Senators who supported this bill. His work was crucial for this victory, the first time in
history that a Virginia legislative body had voted to limit capital punishment.
Unfortunately, the SMI exemption bill was defeated in a subcommittee of the House of Delegates
Courts of Justice Committee. While disappointing, this was not unexpected. The chair of this
committee had made it abundantly clear that he opposed this reform legislation.
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 2020 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 2020, 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 public education programs on the death penalty to:
Three Chopt Ruritan Club, Chatham Rotary Club, Smith Mountain Lake Rotary Club, Monticello
Council of Republican Women, Spotsylvania Republican Women's Club, Rocktown Libertarians,
Roanoke Valley Libertarians, Liberty University Libertarians, Patrick Henry Libertarians, Chesterfield
County Libertarians, Fairfax Young Democrats, Bon Air Interfaith Forum, & the Barter Theater
Capital Punishment Forum. He also staffed VADP information table at many community events.
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.
