TEUS FUND
November 16, 2012
Dear Friends and Colleagues in the Abolition 2025 Campaign,
As a follow-up to the Death Penalty Abolition Fund at Proteus Fund briefing call of
Friday, November 9th, Annmarie Benedict (Programme Executive, The Atlantic
Philanthropies), Meg Gage (President and Executive Director, Proteus Fund), Pat Clark
(Coordinator, Funders for Alternatives to the Death Penalty) and | thought it might be
helpful to share our responses to the questions that were asked by call participants.
These questions and answers are copied below, and you'll also find attached the memo
that was previously circulated with the conference call announcement.
We hope this information proves helpful, including to those who could not make the
call. If you have any additional questions about the Fund, please feel free to contact me
at agrantthomas@proteusfund.org.
We truly are delighted to partner with all of you to help bring about abolition of the
death penalty in the United States and look forward to supporting this crucial work.
A
Andrew Grant-Thomas
Director of Programs, Proteus Fund
agrantthomas@proteusfund.org
Take care,
ox
Q1. lam interested in hearing more about how the fund will work — will the Proteus
Abolition Fund raise money and then receive LOlIs from the field and subsequently
the Proteus directors will make funding decisions based on those LOls in re: who
will receive the funding from the Abolition Fund each year?
Led by the Abolition Fund Program Officer and the Proteus Fund’s Major Gifts Officer,
both positions we are in the process of filling now, the Proteus development team will
devote considerable time to recruiting foundations and individual donors to the
Abolition Fund. The Abolition Fund will join the Atlantic Philanthropies and other
funders as a member of Funders for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) and its
Program Officer will participate in FADP’s existing letter-of-inquiry process.
The Program Officer will coordinate with other FADP funders to recommend grants that,
if approved, will best support the breadth, and enact the strategies, of the death penalty
abolition movement in the United States. In some cases, that could mean that the
Abolition Fund supports worthy proposals that would not otherwise be supported. In
others, that could mean providing additional support where needed. The Program
Officer will make recommendations to the Abolition Grants Committee, comprised of all
donors to the Abolition Fund, which will pass its recommendations on to the Proteus
Fund Board of Directors. The Board of Directors will make final grant decisions.
Q2. How will the fund avoid competing for individual or foundation donors with
organizations in the state? Will the process include support and guidance for
applicants who are not given grants?
The Abolition Fund is committed to expanding the donor pool supporting death penalty
abolition work. All of our efforts will be designed to bring in new donors. If a donor toa
campaign organization wants to fund the Abolition Fund instead, we will discourage
them from making the switch. At the same time, we hope that some donors attracted
first to the Abolition Fund will subsequently decide to fund individual campaign
organizations as well. We also hope we will encourage new institutional donors to join
FADP. The goal is to expand the funding base for your work and to give donors as many
ways of participating as possible, according to their interests, time and style of giving.
We want to develop grant making programs that build the whole field. These might
include fundraising training, communications capacity-building, or campaign
coordination advice. The Proteus Fund is very committed to supporting a field of related
organizations through all of our programs as a strategy for leveraging grants and
reducing the distinction among funded and not-funded allies.
Q3. What is the memo? | am also curious about the areas of funding.
The memo, a 3-page overview of the Death Penalty Abolition Fund recently awarded to
the Proteus Fund, is attached. (The memo was originally circulated as an attachment to
the doodle invitation to participate on the November 9th briefing call.) It will be difficult
to anticipate specific areas of likely funding until the Abolition Fund Program Officer is
fully engaged as a member of FADP and reviewing your letters of inquiry and grant
proposals. Broadly, we can say that the Program Officer will take cues from the overall
abolition field strategy, the insights and guidance provided in the course of interactions
with FADP colleagues and the field, and from her or his own expertise and good
judgment.
Q4. Who or what are the main targets in soliciting money for the Abolition Fund (or at
least initial priorities)? Individual major donors, other large national foundations,
local or regional foundations, family funds, etc? How can those of us in the field
best help build the Fund?
We are developing a comprehensive development plan that will include major donors,
foundations and small donors. Organizations in the field can help with our effort by
representing the campaign to donors and joining us in meetings with major donors.
There are no advocates for death penalty abolition work in the United States as
articulate, well-informed or passionate as the leaders of the Abolition 2025 Campaign.
Q5. Do you expect to raise enough money to offset the loss of Atlantic’s funding?
Yes. Our hope and expectation is that the Abolition Fund will raise enough “new money”
to more than offset the funding currently provided by the Atlantic Philanthropies, now
one of the largest, if not the largest, funders of death penalty abolition work in the
United States. We see several reasons for optimism in this regard.
First and foremost, the movement to eliminate the death penalty has significant
momentum, a compelling strategy behind it, and a dedicated and growing field of
people working to build on that momentum and implement that strategy. Above all,
donors want to win on the issues they care about. Given sufficient resources, our
chances of adding significant abolition wins in the foreseeable future to the ones we’ve
already compiled are very good.
Second, the fact that 100% of all monies contributed to the Abolition Fund will go
directly to grant making will provide a huge incentive for donors to give. Donors will also
be welcome to serve on the Abolition Fund Grants Committee, which will recommend
grants for approval by the Proteus Board of Directors. Many donors find the possibility
of having this kind of “hands on” advisory role extremely appealing.
Third, the Abolition Fund Program Officer and Proteus’ Director of Programs will join a
team of FADP funders already working to educate prospective donors about death
penalty and abolition issues at briefings and conference sessions, and with materials
and movement updates disseminated throughout foundation and donor networks. We
are confident that as more and more donors learn about the work you are doing, and
about the opportunities we have to build on our successes, more and more will want to
join the effort.
Finally, the Proteus Fund has long experience, and has enjoyed significant success, at
bringing new donors to its collaborative funding tables. The full Proteus development
team will comprise the Program Officer, the Director of Programs (Andrew Grant-
Thomas), Proteus’ President and Executive Director (Meg Gage), and a team of
experienced development personnel, including a Major Gifts Officer. With your help, we
will raise the funds needed to capitalize on the opportunities before us.
Q6. Are the funders interested in funding work that takes on the racism that is such an
integral part of who is sentenced to death?
Absolutely. While most Proteus Fund programs already pay explicit attention to race,
the Proteus Fund is also engaged in a systematic effort to deepen and extend our
“structural racism” analysis to all our programs. We know that race matters. Moreover,
we are well aware of the voluminous research literature showing that race is strongly
implicated in decisions involving the death penalty. That said, we’re also aware that
death penalty decision-making in the United States raises important questions about
class and geography as well, among other factors. Ultimately, we expect grant making
decisions to be deeply informed by the expertise and leadership the Abolition Fund
Program Officer will provide, as well as by her or his collaboration with FADP and
interactions with many of you in the field.
Q7. limagine that academic researchers might be concerned about receiving a grant
from the "Death Penalty Abolition Fund." Will funds be issued under that name?
Or will they come from Proteus (or elsewhere), as they have in the past?
Abolition Fund monies will be granted under the name of the Proteus Fund.
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