November 18, 2019
Dear <first name>,
Overall, the new Virginia legislature looks friendly to our
cause, our big opportunity lies in the fact that our mission’s
#1 barrier will soon be removed!
The change in the party control of the House of Delegates
will bring new leadership to the key Courts of Justice
Committee. That alone eliminates our most frustrating _
obstacle to reform and repeal of the death penalty.
We have long targeted 2020 for an all-out campaign for
repeal. Everything is falling into place, but time is short.
We now need YOUR support to make Virginia the first
Southern state to abolish capital punishment. Please consider ..
We’re confident that we still have the broad-based support
needed to get an abolition bill through the House of Delegates.
This year, the Senate voted to pass a bill exempting people
with severe mental illness from capital punishment. This was
the first time that either chamber of the Virginia General
Assembly had voted to limit the death penalty in any way.
We could not have achieved this favorable position in 2019
without our supporters’ extra-generous donations. (Thank you!)
You helped us push ahead despite a potentially disastrous
shortfall -- the loss of a $40,000 ongoing annual grant.
Let me restate that: We lost a long-standing source of one
quarter of our modest $165,000 budget .. not just for last
year but for this year and every year moving forward.
When we alerted supporters, you rallied with more and
larger donations, enough so we did not need to limit activities
or cut staff in 2019. (We have only two full-time employees!)
We have costly and time intensive work to do in the coming
weeks, including personal lobbying with new and returning
legislators.
You will also soon see the results of our intensive public
communications efforts, articles and op-eds generated by media
releases and our many press conferences.
In these, legislators will hear the voices of murder victim
family members and Conservatives calling for abolition of the
death penalty. We are also about to release some striking data
that clearly demonstrates that most citizens throughout the
entire Commonwealth abandoned capital punishment decades ago.
Thanks to VADP donor support, repeal is in reach! It would
be tragic to let a funding shortfall slow us down when victory
is so close. So please help us close our budget gap!..
Your last contribution to VADP was *, given on *.
Today, I ask you to not only match that, but to increase
your support by 25%, 50%, or even double it.
Many of our donors are generous around the holidays. Yet
we really need an additional $15,000 by the end of this year so
we can push into 2020 without worrying about slashing budget or
staff.
To abolish the death penalty in Virginia, we need your
generous gift returned in the envelope provided. It’s tax-
deductible when you itemize!
Please be as generous as you can and support us as soon as
possible. (You can also give with your credit or debit card at
our secure web site: www.vadp.org “Donate”. )
With urgent thanks,
Michael E. Stone
Executive Director
P.S. As I explained, we need each of our individual donors to
increase their contribution by an average of 25% by the end of
2019 to help us overcome the loss of that $40,000 legacy grant.
Please return your VADP donation today, using the enclosed form
and envelope.
