Tides Foundation
Po Box 29903 San Francisco, CA 94129-0903
Tel: 415.561.6400 @ Fax: 415.561.6401
deathpenalty@tides.org
Death Penalty Mobilization Fund State Strategies
Proposal Guidelines
A completed proposal consists of:
1. Cover Sheet
2. Narrative: Please submit a narrative that includes answers to the following questions (we
expect the narrative to require approximately 6-8 pages), or an existing strategic plan in place of
the narrative if the following items are addressed in the plan:
Goal: What policy goal is your campaign or organization trying to achieve and by when? The
vision of KCADP is to assemble a broad-based coalition of individuals and organizations
committed to ending the death penalty in Kentucky by educating residents of the commonwealth
about why it is in their best interest to abolish the death penalty; organizing and mobilizing
throughout the commonwealth; and engaging in advocacy efforts that move constituents to
persuade the governor and the General Assembly to abolish the death penalty. Two short-term
outcomes we expect to achieve are the passage of a bill to prohibit capital punishment in cases
where the defendant is mentally ill and the appointment by the General Assembly of a blue
ribbon panel to study the impact/use of the death penalty in Kentucky by the end of the 2011
legislative session.
Program & Activities: Describe your campaign or program. What is your strategy for
achieving your goal or building the capacity of your organization to achieve the goal in the
future? What are your specific activities? How specifically will the Tides grant be used to
further your work? If you are working on a multi- year campaign, what will your campaign have
achieved in the next year? In the next two years? If you are working on capacity building for
your organization or coalition, what concrete building blocks do you expect to achieve over the
next two years and how will they further your policy goals? Include a timeline of your activities/
outcomes.
In May and June of 2009, KCADP developed a strategic plan with four primary strategic goals
designed to build the capacity of the organization in order to achieve these two short-term
outcomes, while building sufficient grassroots support. These include 1) Develop a system to
identify and understand what is occurring and has occurred in Kentucky and elsewhere, and use
this system to our advantage. 2) Develop and implement a system to garner volunteer and
financial resources. 3) Create and implement a marketing and education campaign to engage
supporters, educate the undecided, influence public opinion, and counter myths. 4) Develop a
statewide system to organize supporters and move them to action.
The first strategic goal involves an effort by staff, with assistance from university researchers, to
gather data, facts, and information on efforts in other states to abolish the death penalty. This
research will be conducted in the first 3 months, July through October of 2009. In November the
results of this research will be analyzed, focusing on what activities were and were not
successful, as well as unique elements of each campaign. A report describing research findings
and relating these findings to the situation in Kentucky. Findings will be presented to the Board
in December and the strategic plan adapted to incorporate new information. In order to gain a
better understanding of the local climate, a poll seeking Kentucky residents’ opinions about the
death penalty will also be conducted. Funding for the poll will be obtained by September, 2009;
the polling instrument will be developed and polling completed by the end of December. In
January and February of 2010 staff, Board and volunteers will review the results of the poll and
determine how best to use polling data in campaign efforts.
The second strategic goal focuses on building sufficient resources to carry out a successful
campaign. KCADP has been conducting it’s Next Big Step fundraising campaign for the past
____years and has collected grants, contributions and pledges totaling $__. These funds have
enabled KCADP to begin building its capacity by adding staff and developing new programs.
Additional funds are needed to cover ongoing operating expenses, develop new programs and
materials, and build the groundwork for an effective mobilization effort. One of the most
important resources for grassroots organizations is a pool of committed volunteers. This is
especially true of an organization such as KCADP with a primary goal of influencing public
decision-makers, since this usually requires a demonstration of strong support at the grassroots
level. The strategic plan includes several strategies to both increase the number of volunteers
engaged in the campaign and provide diverse volunteer opportunities to actively engage
volunteers in campaign efforts. A speakers bureau made up of individuals who are able to
address various aspects of the abolition movement and describe their personal reasons for
opposing the death penalty at various forums will be developed. Throughout the campaign,
volunteers will be recruited and trained to staff tables at large public events such as the Kentucky
State Fair and to assist in collecting pledges for the Next Big Step campaign. To capitalize on
growing opposition to the death penalty among young people, a major focus will be on recruiting
both faculty and student volunteers on college campuses, including law schools, to organize
students. This effort began in July 2009, with assistance from a student intern, and will be
ongoing throughout the campaign. We will also develop volunteer task forces, working groups,
and committees, chaired by Board members, to work on specific strategies within the strategic
plan; these groups will meet from July through September of 2009. As research is completed and
mobilization efforts begin, new volunteer opportunities will be created to provide supporters
with a variety of opportunities to get involved in the campaign.
The third strategic goal focuses on developing effective marketing and educational strategies to
engage supporters, educate the undecided, influence public opinion, and counter myths. The first
objective under this goal is to find ways to continue tailoring the message to particular audiences
through a focus on specific themes and selecting appropriate messengers for delivering the
message. Strategies to accomplish this include identifying themes most likely to resonate with
target audiences, creating documents that outline simple themes supported by more sophisticated
text that can be used for every occasion, and seeking additional spokespeople appropriate for
delivery of specific messages or to specific audiences by the end of December, 2009. KCADP
started the Case Against the Death Penalty video project, which involves posting short videos of
individuals expressing opposition to the death penalty on YouTube; this project will continue
through December 2010. In addition, from January through April 2010 we plan to develop an
education campaign targeted at groups commonly considered adversarial to abolition.
The second objective addresses the need to perfect the means of delivering the message to best
reach target audiences. Two strategies have been identified to begin achieving this objective;
both will be completed by the end of December 2009. These include using technology,
particularly social networking techniques, to reach a wider audience and developing a speakers
bureau to bring the message to target audiences. The third objective under this strategic goal is to
establish a presence among service, civic, leadership, and social groups. Initial strategies include
identifying groups to be contacted by the end of December 2009, organizing on campuses
(described in volunteer development strategies above), and, through the Innocence Project,
bringing an exonerated person to speak statewide from April through November 2010. A fourth
objective is to develop a process that identifies external situations that provide teaching moments
and enable KCADP to mount a rapid response of related educational activities. Staff and Board
will work on this process with a volunteer task force from July through December 2009.
The final strategic goal focuses on mobilization efforts to build a pool of supports actively
engaged in the campaign. The first objective under this goal is to develop grassroots outreach
efforts, with several strategies scheduled to begin in July 2009 and continue throughout the
campaign. These include identifying and adopt a proven grassroots strategy and targeting
communities in the state to pilot the revised program; finding ways to engage new supporters
through activities such as door knocking and writing op-ed pieces; and establishing a key contact
program statewide to tap grasstops. The second and third objectives focus on identifying and
securing contact information for 5,000 new and diverse supporters and develop an infrastructure
to host this information. In addition to strategies such as reaching religious organization and
targeting advocacy efforts in areas represented by legislative leaders, we plan to use social
networking tools, such as an enhanced website with a blog, Facebook Fan page, and Twitter, to
recruit and mobilize Kentuckians by keeping them informed about current legislation and
planned executions, providing information about organizing and advocacy events, links to
contact legislators, and what action to take. Beginning in October 2009 we will also develop a
menu of progressive levels of involvement offering a range of opportunities (such as making
donations or hosting house parties). This will be completed by December 2009.
The fourth objective under this goal is to develop systems for mobilization for actions. Initial
strategies for this include finding out what techniques other organizations use and clarifying
what KCADP has done in the past, and establishing a method of utilizing our supporting partners
to develop and conduct mobilization efforts.
External Assessment: What is the external political landscape in your state? Include both
political openings that make your goal more winnable and political roadblocks that could impede
your effort. To what extent and how is this a “ripe political moment”?
The political landscape in Kentucky is one that talks tough on capital punishment but seldom
uses it. There have been three executions in 47 years and two of those dropped their appeals and
asked to be executed. The last study on the death penalty completed in 1966 recommended
abolition and while not adopted by the General Assembly, there were no executions for the next
31 years. Prosecutors seldom use the death penalty, juries don't seem to like it and public
officials seldom carry it out. While there is insufficient legislative support for either outright
repeal or an official moratorium on executions, this appears to be a ripe moment to send the
death penalty into remission where it once comfortably resided for 35 years (1963-1997) and
save five lives in the process.
The immediate political climate in Kentucky involves a sitting governor running for re-election
and an incumbent attorney general running for the United States Senate. Under Kentucky law,
the attorney general’s job is to request that the governor sign death warrants when warranted by
law. The governor schedules executions when requested by the attorney general unless
clemency is granted. Candidates for high office may believe executions are in the public and
political interest. This is especially urgent in a legal/political climate where as many as five
death row inmates reach the end of their appeals road.
At the same time, there is a groundswell in grassroots opposition to the death penalty. Recent
focus on issues such as innocence, the cost of death penalty cases to states
in financial crisis, and fairness present an important opportunity to address
death penalty issues, correct misinformation, and emphasize alternatives;
generating support for abolition in Kentucky. A chorus of Kentucky voices expressing
an emerging consensus in Kentucky for punishment other than death when available would be an
important pillar of KCADP’s amicus brief now in process (law students from Chase Law School
are helping with the project). It would also be used in a clemency petition asking the governor to
recognize Kentucky’s new standard of decency and grant an alternative to the death sentence
when it is clear that the penological interest of the state can be accomplished by other reasonable
means (the ‘other legal means’ standard was argued in the Supreme Court in the recent Kentucky
case of Baze v. Rees (April 2008) but not adopted as a ‘legally’ mandated standard. But it is
perfectly acceptable as a clemency standard especially when coupled with opinion polls showing
it comports with the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a civilized society).
Internal Assessment: Briefly describe your organization/coalition. How is your group well-
positioned to take advantage of the opportunities and overcome the roadblocks identified in the
question above? What are your internal challenges to doing so? Include a brief summary of
your organization’s history, major accomplishments, and current programs/activities.
You all need to do this — what you sent in old grants is too old.
Relationship to other criminal justice reform efforts: How might your activities and success
or failure impact efforts to reform other aspects of the criminal justice system? For example,
how will your effort affect those working on wrongful convictions, indigent defense, or other
issues that are not death penalty specific?
Evaluation: How will you evaluate your success? What questions will be addressed and who
will be involved in evaluating the effort — staff, board, constituents, community, consultants, etc?
The Board plans to meet on a quarterly basis to evaluate progress toward achieving strategic
goals, add additional strategies needed to achieve objectives, and add new objectives necessary
to accomplish goals. In addition, measurable outcomes including the number of members
recruited, the number actively engaged with the organization at some level, the number of
educational and marketing activities completed and the results of these will be used to determine
whether the campaign is having the expected effect, which types of activities are most effective,
and what adjustments might be required to increase the impact of the campaign.
In addition to looking at tangible outcomes resulting from campaign activities, evaluation will
include looking at how the increased grassroots support might be influencing decision makers:
whether any executions occur, whether the Kentucky Supreme Court accepts the amicus brief,
whether the governor grants a clemency request in response to the evolving standard of decency
argument, and whether any formal proposals have been made in the legislature that restrict,
constrict or erode eligibility for death sentences.
3. Bios of key individuals in the organization or campaign. Please identify each person’s role.
4, Finances
Most recent, completed full year organizational financial statement (expenses, revenue and
balance sheet).
Organization’s current annual operating budget and year-to-date financial information.
If grant is for a specific project, current project budget.
Projected operating budget for upcoming year.
List individually other funding sources for this request. Include amounts and whether received,
committed or projected/pending.
Describe your plans for future fund raising.
A copy of your IRS 501(c)(3) or (c)(4) letter. If you do not have 501(c)(3) or (c)(4) status, please
include a copy of your fiscal sponsor’s 501(c)(3) or (c)(4) letter.
