John,

I’m emailing you today to announce something pretty awesome: A generous donor will make a special $25,000 gift to support the Innocence Project’s work if we can get 1,000 people to donate before the end of Giving Tuesday. Will you be one of those donors?

It’s no secret that systemic racism was built into the fabric of our society and pervades all parts of it, especially our criminal legal system.

Working at the Innocence Project and seeing the data around wrongful convictions really opens your eyes even more to the racial disparities we see in the legal system. In fact, nearly 60% of the people that the Innocence Project has helped to free or exonerate since 1992 are Black, despite the fact that Black people account for just 13.6% of the U.S. population.

That’s why the work that this team does is so incredibly important. Not only are we fighting every single day to free innocent people from prison, but we’re also pushing to pass policies that create a more just and equitable legal system for ALL of us.

I know I might be a little biased, but I can’t think of a better organization to support on Giving Tuesday. Please, make a donation to the Innocence Project to help reach us reach our goal of 1,000 donations before midnight tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your support,

Jessica Rawlins Smith
Chief Development Officer
Innocence Project