Death Penalty Abolition Grants List

Total Granted through August 31, 2024: $270,000

8th Amendment Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Death Penalty Litigation)

National
$260,000
Refine the national strategy to abolish the death penalty as needed; coordinate and increase collaboration between litigation, advocacy, policy, communications, and research; and offer strategic guidance, consultation, and technical assistance as opportunities and crises arise.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

National
$10,000
Campaign to prevent execution of Marcellus Khalifah Williams.

Total Granted 2023: $3,585,000

8th Amendment Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Death Penalty Litigation)

National
$575,000
Refine the national strategy to abolish the death penalty as needed, coordinate and increase collaboration between (litigation, advocacy, policy, communications, and research), and offer strategic guidance, consultation, and technical assistance as opportunities and crisis arise.

8th Amendment Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Death Penalty Litigation)

National
$20,000
Host national death penalty convening.

Advancing Real Change-Florida Mitigation

Florida
$100,000
Integrate high-quality mitigation investigation throughout the state of Florida with direct casework, referral services, training and consultation for defenders, and community engagement.

Arizona Capital Representation Project

Arizona
$50,000
Decrease Arizona’s use of the death penalty through strategic pro bono training and consulting efforts at the trial level and grasstops advocacy and policy work.

Atlantic Center for Capital Representation

Pennsylvania/Northeast
$50,000
Provide expertise and innovation to capital defense case strategy at the state and federal level.

Black Lives Matter OKC – Oklahoma Death Penalty Moratorium Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Alliance for Global Justice)

Oklahoma
$60,000
Coordinate organizations working to end the death penalty in Oklahoma to maximize the effectiveness of the campaign and to identify and empower key stakeholders.

Capital Litigation Communications Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Texas Defender Service)

National
$150,000
Provide strategic communications to reduce executions, including by helping attorneys achieve litigation success in capital cases; coordinate capital litigators with the broader anti-death penalty advocacy community.

Catholic Mobilizing Network

National
$35,000
Further repeal legislation in key states and advance the national strategy to abolish the death penalty by mobilizing and influencing key Catholic constituencies.

Center for Death Penalty Litigation

North Carolina
$50,000
Maintain North Carolina’s de facto moratorium on executions, block new death sentences, and shrink the size of North Carolina’s death row through litigation and public education.

Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona

Arizona
$75,000
Prevent further executions and advance an advocacy plan that supports death penalty reform and expands grassroots supporters for abolition.

Death Penalty Policy Project (Fiscal Sponsor: The Phillips Black Project A Public Interest Non Profit Law Office)

National
$50,000
Educate the media and public about the problems with the death penalty, help shape national and jurisdiction-specific narratives on capital punishment and assist with rapid response messaging.

Donkeysaddle Project – Death Penalty Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Fractured Atlas)

National
$75,000
Enrich the connections between death penalty abolition and broader Black liberation work within the Movement for Black Lives ecosystem.

Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) – Death Penalty Program

National
$350,000
Work to end the death penalty by supporting state repeal campaigns and generating a narrative that shows the growing opposition to the death penalty from a broad cross-section of new and natural allies.

Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) – Death Penalty Program

National
$65,000
Leaders of Color Healing Retreat

Faith Leaders of Color Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Global Impact)

National
$110,000
Educate, engage and build a robust national community of Black/Indigenous interfaith leaders who are activated to eliminate the use of the American Death Penalty system.

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (Fiscal Sponsor: Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy)

Florida
$75,000
Reduce executions and sentences by passing a severe mental illness exception bill.

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Georgia
$70,000
Support grassroots organizing and mobilization around death penalty abolition.

Julius Jones Institute (Fiscal Sponsor: Third Space Foundation)

Oklahoma
$50,000
Advance the national strategy by educating the public about issues in death penalty policies—particularly racism and advocate for fewer death sentences in Oklahoma County.

Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Kentucky
$75,000
Spread awareness and foster public support for ending the death penalty.

Latino Justice PRLDEF

National
$50,000
Elevate death penalty related issues in their priority criminal-legal advocacy work.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Missouri
$80,000
Reduce new death sentences and executions, most notably in high-use counties where historical racial violence is prevalent.

Mission Talk

Florida
$50,000
Work to stop executions and reduce new death sentences in Florida.

Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Nevada
$85,000
Capitalize on momentum, media attention and community support to continue elevating the need for death penalty repeal.

North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

North Carolina
$115,000
Increase capacity to educate and engage individuals, organizations, and communities to transform the death penalty narrative in North Carolina.

Ohioans to Stop Executions

Ohio
$250,000
Work to repeal capital punishment in Ohio.

Powell Project-No and Low Jurisdictions (Fiscal Sponsor: Tides Center)

National
$225,000
Empower defense counsel in trial level capital cases by equipping teams with nationally recognized skills and best practices.

Promise of Justice Initiative – LA Repeal

Louisiana
$100,000
Work to repeal Louisiana’s death penalty through organizing, advocacy, education, and legislative outreach.

Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (Fiscal Sponsor: NEO Philanthropy)

National
$60,000
Build narrative that the death penalty is bad for business.

Smart Justice CA – Anti-Death Penalty Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Tides Foundation)

California
$40,000
Support the work of the statewide coalition of advocates working to end the death penalty and extreme sentencing in California, and the litigation strategy group to advance new legal strategies to end the death penalty in California.

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

South Carolina
$85,000
Stop executions and death sentences and eventually abolish the death penalty in South Carolina.

Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Tennessee
$50,000
Work to prevent executions and reduce death sentences by broadening and amplifying communications strategy focusing on the failures of the death penalty system, particularly around racial injustice.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Texas
$85,000
Advance the national strategy for abolition by maintaining lower use of the death penalty in Texas and damaging the death penalty brand.

Texas Defender Service

Texas
$50,000
Keep new executions and death sentences in Texas as low as possible through legal advocacy, mitigation investigations and case consulting while shifting the narrative on the death penalty through advocacy and public education campaigns.

Washitaw Foothills Youth Media Arts and Literacy Collective – Noose to Needle Project

Arkansas
$50,000
Educate Arkansans about the societal costs of the state of Arkansas upholding a capital punishment regime.

Witness to Innocence

National
$125,000
Amplify the voices of exonerated death row survivors in support of work to repeal the death penalty.

Total Granted 2022: $2,600,000

8th Amendment Project (Fiscal Sponsor:  Center for Death Penalty Litigation)

National
$80,000

Coordinate national strategy to end the death penalty.

Advancing Real Change – Florida Expansion

Florida
$110,000

Integrate high-quality mitigation investigation throughout the state of Florida with direct casework, referral services, training and consultation for defenders, and community engagement.

Atlantic Center for Capital Representation

Pennsylvania/Northeast
$25,000

Provide expertise and innovation to capital defense case strategy at the state and federal level.

Black Lives Matter OKC – Oklahoma Death Penalty Moratorium Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Alliance for Global Justice)

Oklahoma
$80,000

Support the moratorium coalition and the organizing of victims’, faith, and BIPOC voices.

Capital Litigation Communications Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Texas Defender Service)

National
$50,000

Provide strategic communications to reduce executions, including by helping attorneys achieve litigation success in capital cases; coordinate capital litigators with the broader anti-death penalty advocacy community.

Catholic Mobilizing Network

National
$30,000

Further repeal legislation in key states and advance the national strategy to abolish the death penalty by mobilizing and influencing key Catholic constituencies.

Center for Death Penalty Litigation

North Carolina
$100,000

Maintain North Carolina’s de facto moratorium on executions, block new death sentences, and shrink the size of North Carolina’s death row through litigation and public education.

Death Penalty Action

National
$50,000

Stop executions and end the death penalty in the United States by providing leadership, support, high-visibility resources, educational events, and activities within the broader, anti-death penalty movement.

Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona

Arizona
$75,000

Abolish the death penalty for all individuals currently sentenced to death in Arizona.

Death Penalty Information Center

National
$125,000

Support the Racial Justice Communications project which highlights the role the death penalty has played at the local level as an instrument of discrimination and as a key element of systemic racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Death Penalty Focus

California
$25,000

Support the legislative goals of the statewide anti-death penalty coalition as well as enhance their work in communities to encourage local prosecutors to move away from the use of the death penalty.

Donkeysaddle Project – Death Penalty Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Fractured Atlas)

National
$40,000

Repeal the death penalty through state campaigns or judicial decisions primarily in the south, and help push and promote a national narrative linking death penalty abolition efforts to broader abolition work and the Movement for Black Lives.

Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) – Death Penalty Program 

National
$300,000

Work to end the death penalty by supporting state repeal campaigns and generating a narrative that shows the growing opposition to the death penalty from a broad cross-section of new and natural allies. 

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (Fiscal Sponsor: Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy)

Florida
$60,000

Reduce executions and sentences by passing a severe mental illness exception bill.

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Georgia
$35,000

Support grassroots organizing and mobilization around death penalty abolition.

Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Kentucky
$95,000

Spread awareness and foster public support for ending the death penalty.

Live Free USA – Anti-Death Penalty Campaign and the Black Clergy Tables  (Fiscal Sponsor: Community Initiatives)

National
$65,000

Organize Black faith leaders in key states.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Missouri
$25,000

Reduce new death sentences and executions, most notably in high-use counties where historical racial violence is prevalent.

Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Nevada
$85,000

Capitalize on momentum, media attention and community support to continue elevating the need for death penalty repeal.

North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

North Carolina
$65,000

Increase capacity to educate and engage individuals, organizations, and communities to transform the death penalty narrative in North Carolina.

Ohioans to Stop Executions

Ohio
$250,000

Work to repeal capital punishment in Ohio.

Powell Project-No and Low Jurisdictions (Fiscal Sponsor: Tides Center)

National
$230,000

Empower defense counsel in trial level capital cases by equipping teams with nationally recognized skills and best practices.

Promise of Justice Initiative – LA Repeal

Louisiana
$100,000

Work to repeal Louisiana’s death penalty through organizing, advocacy, education, and legislative outreach.

Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (Fiscal Sponsor: NEO Philanthropy)

National
$60,000

Build narrative that the death penalty is bad for business.

Smart Justice CA – Anti-Death Penalty Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Tides Foundation)

California
$40,000

Support the work of the statewide coalition of advocates working to end the death penalty and extreme sentencing in California, and the litigation strategy group to advance new legal strategies to end the death penalty in California.

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (Fiscal Sponsor: Clarendon County Council on Aging Inc)

South Carolina
$50,000

Reignite a coalition of partners to abolish the death penalty in South Carolina.

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

South Carolina
$65,000

Stop executions and death sentences and eventually abolish the death penalty in South Carolina.

Southern Center for Human Rights – Death Penalty Litigation, Advocacy, and Movement Building in the Deep South 

Southern region
$80,000

Prevent death sentences and executions in Georgia and Alabama and work with Black communities across the country to strengthen the death penalty abolition movement.

Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Tennessee
$50,000

Work to prevent executions and reduce death sentences by broadening and amplifying communications strategy focusing on the failures of the death penalty system, particularly around racial injustice.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Texas
$75,000

Advance the national strategy for abolition by maintaining lower use of the death penalty in Texas and damaging the death penalty brand.

Washitaw Foothills Youth Media Arts and Literacy Collective – Noose to Needle Project

Arkansas
$50,000

Educate communities and media about the connection between the modern-day death penalty and Arkansas’ shameful history of racial terror.

Witness to Innocence 

National
$30,000

Amplify the voices of exonerated death row survivors in support of work to repeal the death penalty.

Total Granted 2021: $2,645,000

8th Amendment Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for the Death Penalty Litigation)

National
$250,000

Coordinate national strategy to end the death penalty.

8th Amendment Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for the Death Penalty Litigation)

Virginia
$25,000

Virginia death penalty repeal campaign.

Advancing Real Change (ARC) – Florida Mitigation Project

Florida
$110,000

Integrate high-quality mitigation investigation throughout the state of Florida with direct casework, referral services, training and consultation for defenders, and community engagement.

Atlantic Center for Capital Representation (ACCR)

Pennsylvania/Northeast
$50,000

Provide expertise and innovation to capital defense case strategy at the state and federal level.

Capital Litigation Communications Project (Fiscal Sponsor: Texas Defender Service)

National
$100,000

Provide strategic communications to reduce executions, including by helping attorneys achieve litigation success in capital cases; coordinate capital litigators with the broader anti-death penalty advocacy community.

Catholic Mobilizing Network

National
$30,000

Further repeal legislation in key states and advance the national strategy to abolish the death penalty by mobilizing and influencing key Catholic constituencies.

Center for Death Penalty Litigation

North Carolina
$115,000

Maintain North Carolina’s de facto moratorium on executions, block new death sentences, and shrink the size of North Carolina’s death row through litigation and public education.

Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona

Arizona
$60,000

Abolish the death penalty for all individuals currently sentenced to death in Arizona.

Death Penalty Information Center

National
$145,000

Support the Racial Justice Communications project which will highlight the role the death penalty has played at the local level as an instrument of discrimination and as a key element of systemic racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Equal Justice USA (EJUSA): Death Penalty Program

National
$410,000

Work to end the death penalty by supporting state repeal campaigns and generating a narrative that shows the growing opposition to the death penalty from a broad cross-section of new and natural allies. 

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)

Florida
$35,000

Reduce executions and sentences by passing a severe mental illness exception bill.

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP)

Georgia
$60,000

Support grassroot organizing and mobilization around death penalty abolition.

Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Kentucky
$85,000

Spread awareness and foster public support for ending the death penalty.

Libertas Institute

Utah
$65,000

Support education efforts in Utah about the problems with the death penalty.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Missouri
$50,000

Reduce new death sentences and executions, most notably in high-use counties where historical racial violence is prevalent.

Nevada Coalition Against The Death Penalty

Nevada
$65,000

Capitalize on momentum, media attention and community support to continue elevating the need for death penalty repeal.

North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP)

North Carolina
$50,000

Increase capacity to educate and engage individuals, organizations, and communities to transform the death penalty narrative in North Carolina.

Ohioans to Stop Executions

Ohio
$175,000

Work to repeal capital punishment in Ohio.

Powell Project (NOLO) (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Death Penalty Litigation)

National
$200,000

Empower defense counsel in trial level capital cases by equipping teams with nationally recognized skills and best practices.

Promise of Justice Initiative – LA Repeal

Louisiana
$125,000

Work to repeal Louisiana’s death penalty through organizing, advocacy, education, and legislative outreach.

Smart Justice CA – CA Anti-Death Penalty Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Tides Foundation)

California
$50,000

Support the work of the statewide coalition of advocates working to end the death penalty and extreme sentencing in California, and the litigation strategy group to advance new legal strategies to end the death penalty in California.

Southern Center for Human Rights – Death Penalty Movement Building

Southern Region
$105,000

Prevent death sentences and executions in Georgia and Alabama and work with Black communities across the country to strengthen the death penalty abolition movement.

Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Tennessee
$75,000

Work to prevent executions and reduce death sentences by broadening and amplifying communications strategy focusing on the failures of the death penalty system, particularly around racial injustice.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Texas
$50,000

Advance the national strategy for abolition by maintaining lower use of the death penalty in Texas and damaging the death penalty brand.

Texas Defender Service (TDS)

Texas
$75,000

Maintain recent reductions in new Texas death sentences, continue to work to reverse imposed death sentences, and stop scheduled executions.

Washitaw Foothills Youth Media Arts & Literacy Collective: From Noose to Needle Project

Arkansas
$25,000

Develop and cultivate an Arkansas-based “From Noose to Needle” public education campaign advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in Arkansas.

Witness to Innocence (WTI): Death Penalty Abolition 

National
$60,000

Amplify the voices of exonerated death row survivors in support of work to repeal the death penalty.