The state’s legal nonprofits are gearing up for Georgia Gives Day, the annual giving day that’s part of the national Giving Tuesday initiative to raise money for charities across the United States.
In Georgia, the need for donations at this Tuesday’s fundraiser for the Georgia Innocence Project is “extremely urgent,” said its spokeswoman Blis Savidge. According to its website, the project is “dedicated to assisting individuals convicted of crimes they did not commit in the state of Georgia,” and its mission is to “prevent and correct wrongful convictions while providing released clients with resources for.” rebuilding to connect your life.” It also focuses on education and political reform, Savidge said.
“I think a lot of people think that one wrongful conviction is one in a million, but it could happen to anyone,” she added. “We saw a pattern in these false convictions. There are studies that state that 4% of prison inmates in the US are wrongly convicted. An estimated 2,000 people are wrongly convicted in Georgia. That speaks to most of the urgent need.”
Savidge also said there are other aspects of the wrongful conviction that Georgians need to consider.
“Another thing about false convictions is that they are very difficult to correct and take a lot of time and a lot of money,” she said. “There is no legal mechanism for innocence, so fighting these cases is always an uphill battle. It’s terribly depressing, and what shocks me is that people think DNA is as far as it gets for convicted people and that it can be used to free someone. DNA is often not enough to free someone, so many of our clients have DNA that suggests they did not commit these crimes, but that is not enough.”
fundraising goals
The project, which has participated in Georgia Gives Day since 2014, raised just over $2,000 in 2021 and hopes to raise $4,000 this year.
Since its inception in 2012, Giving Tuesday (also spelled GivingTuesday) has grown from a national to an international program and today reaches more than 260 communities worldwide, including every continent.
Established that same year, Georgia Gives Day has raised more than $90 million for the state’s nonprofit organizations through more than 556,000 donations. Last year it raised $27.1 million through over 180,000 donations. In 2021, the average donation on the Georgia Gives Day website was $216, but the minimum contribution is only $5.
“Regardless of the setbacks we continue to face, every year Georgians continue to amaze us with their increasing contributions and engagement on this International Day of Giving,” Karen Beavor, President and CEO of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, which organizes the Georgia Gives Day held every year, said in a press release. “As nonprofits grapple with staff and volunteer shortages, the ongoing impact of the pandemic and now inflation, it is all the more urgent for Georgians to unite and advance the efforts and impact of these organizations by participating in GAgives on GivingTuesday .”
Alpa Amin is Executive Director of the Georgia Asylum Immigration Network (GAIN), whose mission, according to its website, is to “protect and empower immigrant survivors of crime and persecution.” Amin said the organization has raised over $100,000 from more than 350 donations since participating in Georgia Gives Day in 2013. Last year, GAIN raised $13,445 and hopes to raise at least $15,000 in 2022.
“When we first started attending Georgia Gives Day, donations from the day accounted for almost 4% of our operating budget. It has been instrumental in our growth and a [major] Part of our donations at the end of the year.”
Sur Legal Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to “democratizing legal knowledge and providing legal support to movements fighting for economic, racial, and social justice in the South,” is participating in Georgia Gives Day for the first time this year . Melinda Nguyen, her development and operations assistant, said the group hopes to raise $10,000 in 2022.
“[The need for donations] is very urgent because one way for us to build the power of workers, including migrant workers, is to empower them to speak out against labor abuse and workplace health and safety violations,” she said. “One way we can empower these workers to speak out is to offer them some form of protection from deportation. One way we can do this is by helping them apply for temporary immigration relief and work permits. So the money we are raising this Giving Tuesday will go to cover the cost of applying for work permits for our clients.”
awareness page of the day
The Atlanta Legal Aid Society, a nonprofit organization that “helps low-income people meet basic needs and remove barriers to justice through civil legal assistance,” is also participating in Georgia Gives Day this year.
All three nonprofit representatives surveyed said that the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent economic downturn have exacerbated an already difficult situation for their clients. They also said Georgia Gives Day is an opportunity to raise awareness of their organizations and their missions.
Savidge said donations are particularly needed for the project’s reentry and support services “because life has gotten harder for people, but especially for the people who have been in prison for decades.”
“The state of Georgia does not provide anything to people who have been wrongfully convicted,” she said. “So you’re free, but then you’re on your own. Georgia is just one of 12 states without a wrongfully convicted compensation law. Many people think that when people get out of prison the nightmare will be over, but it is the beginning of a new struggle to access medical resources and get a job, and many people have lost their families. We’ve had people in prison for 40 years, so they have to start all over again.”
In 20 years, the project has freed 12 men who have lost a combined 275 years to wrongful imprisonment, Savidge said. Only since 2020 has it exonerated half of those men, in part because of money raised on Georgia Gives Day, she added.
Amin and Nguyen said the contributions will also help pay for additional staff who will be hired to accommodate the increase in customers.
“A new route to facilitate immigrants has recently opened up, and through this new route, there are more workers who are eligible for temporary immigration easements,” Nguyen said. “We want to help all eligible workers get the help they can get. It’s critical that we do this in Georgia because the state is 96% non-union and has some of the worst labor laws.”
For more information about Georgia Gives Day or to make a donation, visit www.gagives.org.