Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Transcription

1 Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty General Information Contact Information Nonprofit Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Address P.O. Box Richmond, VA Phone Fax Web Site Facebook Twitter 434 xxxxxxx facebook.com/pages/virginians-for-alternatives-to-the- At A Glance Year of Incorporation 1993 Former Names Organization's type of tax exempt status VIRGINIANS AGAINST STATE KILLING VIRGINIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO STATE KILLING Public Supported Charity 1

2 Statements & Search Criteria Mission Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) is a statewide citizens organization dedicated to educating the public about alternatives to the death penalty. Background In September of 1991 a group of 22 people opposed to the death penalty gathered to organize against capital punishment. A 1989 survey conducted by the Center for Survey Research at Virginia Commonwealth University found that while Virginians supported the death penalty, support decreased to a minority when Virginians were given the alternative of life with no possibility of parole for a minimum of 25 years combined with restitution to the victims family. On November 9, 1991 a steering committee of 13 people gathered and formed an organization dedicated to educating Virginians about alternatives to the death penalty. Impact Virginia used to sentence 5-10 people to death each year and execute as many as 14 people annually. The Commonwealth has executed four people in the past five years and no one has been sentenced to death in over six years. In the last two sessions of the General Assembly, VADP has organized a coalition of mental health organizations to support proposed legislation that would exempt offenders with severe mental illness from the death penalty. This is one recommendation from the 2013 American Bar Association Virginia Death Penalty Assessment Team that included judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. Our goal is to mobilize enough bipartisan support by 2020 to have a serious debate at the General Assembly on repeal of the death penalty. Needs Monetary support: VADP seeks to expand its current annual donor base so that we can hire a second full-time field organizer to work in key legislative districts. Volunteers: People with expertise in social media and communications would be helpful to spread VADP's message to a wider audience. People with fundraising expertise are needed to assist staff and board members in expanding our existing donor base. An individual with experience in WordPress is needed to help update our existing web site. People who are willing to staff a VADP information table at community events are needed on an occasional basis. Volunteers are needed to assist with occasional office mailings. Supplies/Miscellaneous: Donation of postage stamps and photocopying services would be very helpful to reduce our organizational costs. 2

3 CEO/Executive Director Statement Many people begin their involvement in the abolition movement through participation in execution vigils. I was one of these people. Just a a few months after moving to Richmond in 1984, there was an execution at the old penitentiary in the heart of the city. I joined the execution vigil that evening, standing silently with a candle along with forty others in front of the massive brick wall surrounding the penitentiary as cars whizzed by only feet away from us. On the other side of this busy four lane road was a raucous group that held placards with ugly messages and yelled racist chants like burn the N-word. In that moment my cool intellectual opposition to the death penalty became a passionate personal commitment. My Catholic faith told me that a public policy engendering such hateful and racist displays had to be evil and must be overturned. In the 30 years since that evening I have learned much about the system of capital punishment in the United States. I have organized lobbying days at the Virginia General Assembly and led public education sessions on the death penalty. I now feel privileged to be leading VADP twenty-four years after its founding in Together with the VADP board of directors, I am working to expand our base of support among the people of Virginia, especially among political conservatives. Member engagement is a major priority in the coming year. I plan to have regional gatherings of VADP supporters in the spring and autumn. We are also having our first-ever awards luncheon on Saturday, October 10, 2015 to celebrate our accomplishments, honor key leaders, and energize supporters for the work that lies ahead. Board Chair Statement The death penalty represents one of society s great inconsistencies. Murder is illegal in every state, yet a high percentage of states retain the ability to use execution as the ultimate punishment. This always strikes me as inconsistent. The primary reason for my opposition to the death penalty is human error. There is no way to guarantee that the courts will get it right, and one person executed that was wrongly convicted is simply one person too many. Speaking from my policy experience, VADP -- as the only single-issue death penalty abolition organization -- is a critical component to working towards ending the death penalty in Virginia. The Virginia General Assembly pace is so rapid that having a specialized organization dedicated to educating legislators and spearheading abolition efforts is essential. Legislators and multi-issue coalition members rely on this leadership to both advocate for bills promoting positive change and working to defeat death penalty expansion efforts. Every winter, VADP truly is at the front lines. Virginia Podboy, VADP Board Chair Areas Of Service Areas Served Areas Statewide Commonwealth of Virginia Service Categories Civil Rights, Social Action, & Advocacy N.E.C. Alliances & Advocacy Adult Education 3

4 Programs Programs Public Policy Description VADP's ultimate goal is abolition of the death penalty in Virginia. In the interim, VADP seeks reforms in our existing criminal justice system that have been recommended by the the 2013 ABA Virginia Death Penalty Assessment Report. These reforms will make our system fairer and more transparent until we build the bipartisan support needed to abolish capital punishment. Budget $0.00 Long term Success Short Term Success Virginia used to sentence 5-10 people to death each year and execute as many as 14 people annually. The Commonwealth has executed only one person in the past three years and no one has been sentenced to death. In the 2014 session of the Virginia General Assembly, VADP and its allies worked to defeat a bill that would have made electrocution the default method of execution. In the 2015 legislative session, VADP and its allies mobilized widespread opposition to a bill that would have enabled the Department of Corrections to contract secretly with compounding pharmacies to obtain lethal injection drugs. All 32 Democrats and 24 Republicans in the House of Delegates voted to defeat this measure. Public Education Description VADP educates people in the Commonwealth about the major problems in our existing death penalty system: Budget $ Innocence Since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume, there have been 153 people exonerated from death row. These men and women were sentenced to death, but later vindicated before their execution was carried out. In the same time frame, there have been approximately 1,400 executions. That is a nearly an 11% rate of error, far too high for the ultimate punishment. 2. Arbitrariness Race and geography play a huge role in the imposition of capital punishment. In Virginia a person is more than three times as likely to be sentenced to death when the victim is white vs. when the victim is black. In addition, the location of a homicide matters greatly. 65% of localities in Virginia have not had an execution since Just three of the 133 political jurisdictions account for 23% of all of the state's executions -- Prince William, Chesterfield & Virginia Beach. 3. Cost No cost study of the death penalty has ever been done in Virginia. Other states that have conducted studies have found that that a system with death as the maximum penalty costs significantly more than a system in which life imprisonment is the maximum penalty. 4

5 Community Outreach Description VADP mobilizes death penalty opponents at regional meetings in northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk, and Roanoke. These gatherings take place twice a year, in the spring and fall. In addition, the VADP Executive Director is meeting with conservatives around the Commonwealth to discuss their views on capital punishment. Conservatives around the country are questioning the effectiveness of the death penalty as public policy. Mark Earley a Republican Attorney General who oversaw 36 executions in Virginia recently wrote about his conversion on the issue and declared his opposition to the death penalty. He shared his story with VADP supporters at our October 10, 2015 awards luncheon in Richmond. Budget $0.00 5

6 Board & Governance Board Chair Board Chair Virginia Podboy Company Affiliation Railside Law Group Term Sept 2014 to Aug Board Co-Chair Board CoChair Virginia Podboy Company Affiliation Private law practice Term Sept 2014 to Aug Board Members Name Affiliation Status Mary Atwell Radford University RJ Bee Hattaway Communications Voting Carissa Carissa Phillips Community Volunteer Voting Connie Clark Episcopal Priest Voting Nicholas Cote Right to Work Foundation Voting Theresa Dunleavy Retired Voting Emma Johnston Kristina Leslie Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Northern Virginia Capital Defender Office Voting Voting Kamyle Li Community Volunteer Voting Adam Northup Capital One Voting Paul O Shea Retired Voting Virginia Podboy Kent Willis Private Practice ACLU of Virginia Gerald Zerkin Attorney Voting Board Demographics - Ethnicity African American/Black 2 Asian American/Pacific Islander 0 Caucasian 12 Hispanic/Latino 0 Native American/American Indian 0 Board Demographics - Gender 6

7 Male 6 Female 8 Unspecified 0 Governance Board Term Lengths 3 Board Term Limits 2 Board Meeting Attendance % 0 Written Board Selection Criteria? Written Conflict of Interest Policy? Yes Yes Percentage Making Monetary Contributions 100 Percentage Making In-Kind Contributions 67 Number of Full Board Meetings Annually 3 7

8 Management Executive Director/CEO Executive Director Michael E Stone Term Start Jan office@vadp.org Experience Prior to joining VADP, Michael worked as a Field Organizer for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. In that role, he worked with abolition organizations in Virginia, Missouri, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania. He has spoken about capital punishment to faith communities and other organizations across the Commonwealth. He has also identified opponents to the death penalty among unlikely allies including political conservatives and violent crime victims. Michael also worked for 25 years in social ministry for Office of Justice & Peace for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond from 1984 to Michael earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.A. degree in Pastoral Ministry from Boston College. He is a former board member of the Virginia Catholic Conference and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Richmond Peace Education Center. Former CEOs Name Term Stephen Northup Jan Dec 2014 Beth Panilaitis Jan Dec 2010 Staff Full Time Staff 2 Part Time Staff 0 Volunteers 14 Contractors 0 Retention Rate 0 Plans Organization has a Fundraising Plan? Organization has a Strategic Plan? Whistleblower Policy Document Destruction Policy Yes No No Collaborations 8

9 VADP works very closely with the Virginia Catholic Conference and the ACLU of Virginia in its planning. In addition, VADP has excellent relationships with attorneys whose practice is primarily related to capital cases. VADP is a member of the Virginia Alliance for the Severe Mental Illness Exclusion (VASMIE). This coalition of organizations supports legislation that would exempt offenders with severe mental illness from the death penalty. VASMIE members include: DisAbility Law Center Mental Health America of Virginia National Alliance on Mental Illness Virginia National Alliance on Mental Illness of Central Virginia National Association of Social Workers Virginia Chapter Virginia Counselors Association Virginia Organization of Consumers Asserting Leadership 9

10 Financials Fiscal Year Jan Fiscal Year 2018 Projected Revenue $147, Projected Expenses $169, Endowment Value 0 Percentage (if selected) 0% Form 990s Form 990-EZ Form 990-EZ Form 990-EZ Form 990-EZ Form 990-EZ Detailed Financials Revenue and Expenses Total Revenue $112,610 $111,246 $72,661 Total Expenses $101,276 $96,498 $45,017 Revenue Sources Foundation and Corporation $38,000 $46, Contributions Government Contributions $0 $0 $0 Federal State Local Unspecified Individual Contributions $71,073 $62,285 $72,661 Indirect Public Support Earned Revenue Investment Income, Net of Losses Membership Dues Special Events $2,055 $2, Revenue In-Kind Other $1,482 $

11 Expense Allocation Program Expense $73,298 $77,296 $36,777 Administration Expense $21,208 $11,787 $3,303 Fundraising Expense $6,770 $7,415 $4,937 Payments to Affiliates Total Revenue/Total Expenses Program Expense/Total Expenses 72% 80% 82% Fundraising Expense/Contributed Revenue 6% 7% 7% Assets and Liabilities Total Assets $63,908 $52,575 $37,827 Current Assets $63,908 $52,575 $37,827 Long-Term Liabilities $0 $0 -- Current Liabilities $0 $0 -- Total Net Assets $63,908 $52,575 $37,827 Short Term Solvency Current Ratio: Current Assets/Current Liabilities Long Term Solvency Long-Term Liabilities/Total Assets 0% 0% 0% Top Funding Sources Top Funding Source & Dollar Amount Second Highest Funding Source & Dollar Amount Third Highest Funding Source & Dollar Amount Capital Campaign Currently in a Capital Campaign? No Goal 0 State Charitable Solicitaions Permit Permit? Yes May 2018 Registration Yes May 2018 Comments Foundation Comments Financial analysis performed with Form 990. Financial statements prepared internally by the organization. 11

12 Created Copyright 2018 The Community Foundation Serving Richmond & Central Virginia 12