NAACP AFFIRMING AMERICA’S PROMISE 2011 ANNUAL REPORT 4805 Mount Hope Drive Baltimore, MD 21215 www.naacp.org 4 • NAACP 2011 Annual Report Table of Contents 2 Introduction: Affirming America’s Promise 30 Legal Advocacy 4 Letter from the Chairman of the Board 32 Hollywood Bureau 6 Letter from the President & CEO 34 Washington Bureau 8 Letter from the Chairman of the Special Contribution Fund SpEciaL EVENTS 10 Troy Davis: Touching All Lives 36 NAACP Annual Convention 12 Game Changers 37 Leadership 500 38 Image Awards ADVOcacY anD ISSUE AREAS 39 Religious Leaders Summit 14 Health 16 Education BUSinESS OpEraTIONS OUR MISSION 18 Voting Rights 40 Financials The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 20 Criminal Justice 42 Our Donors is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. 22 Climate Justice 48 Board of Directors 24 Economic Opportunity 49 Board of Trustees VISION STATEMENT 50 NAACP Staff OPEraTIONS The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 52 NAACP Regions People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without 26 Field Operations and Membership discrimination based on race. 28 Youth Programs NAACP 2011 Annual Report • 1 By standing united to advance our common opportunities, the African American community and other INTRODUCTION communities of color continue to Affirming work to overcome the obstacles America’s Promise that hinder determination. he unspoken promise of the United States is unified work is affirming America’s promise. By that all it takes to succeed is hard work and remaining united, strong, and optimistic — and determination. This is the land of democ- yes, through hard work and determination — we are racy, where we are all supposed to start on a securing the promises of America. On these pages you level playing field, and advantages of ances- will see our work to achieve: Ttry or political affiliation are not supposed to matter. • Sound policies that help families get and stay healthy For many communities of color, the promise of • Quality education (from pre-k through college) so America has gone unfulfilled — opportunities limited that all children have a fair chance to advance and progress slow. But the power of collective action • Voting rights that ensure a representative democracy will not be denied. By standing united to advance • Equal treatment under the law, regardless of skin our common opportunities, the African American color community and other communities of color continue • Clean land, air, and water — even in communities to work to overcome the obstacles that hinder of poverty determination. • Economic opportunity and jobs that pay a living Through its work, the NAACP is insisting that just as wage the skills and strengths of these communities helped • A strong government that acts in our best interest to make America great, the promise of America for It’s time for the promises of this nation to be these communities must be fulfilled, too. affirmed for its entire people. Working together, we In this report, you will see how our collaborative, will succeed. 2 • NAACP 2011 Annual Report NAACP 2011 Annual Report • 3 Chairman, National Board of Directors n 2011, the NAACP identified key growth opportunities in a process that not which 21 NAACP units — from Northeast Queens, NY to Bremerton, Washington only focuses our resources but helps define our progress in the months and years — took part in trainings on how to raise funds, how to use their resources, and to come. As we refined our strategies and shored up our strengths, we enabled how to engage the voting public. The pilot phase was a success, and the Board the year’s successes — and also laid the path for even greater influence and ef- voted to open the Collective Action Fund to all NAACP units — laying the critical fectiveness in the future. foundation for the 2012 election efforts. IThroughout its history, the NAACP has campaigned against tactics designed to We are grateful for your past support and look forward to having you with us as stop people from casting free ballots. The work to assure black citizens the right to we proceed on this vital journey. vote has followed a tortuous path over the years, including loss of life, reprisals, in- timidation, beatings and various other actions. And finally, largely through NAACP Sincerely, campaigns and leadership, the 1964 Voting Rights Act was passed. However, as we approach the 2012 national election, we find an increasing num- bers of states establising rules which will limit the ability of a significant number As we refined our strategies and shored of our citizens to register and vote. So, we must remain vigilant and redouble our up our strengths, we not only empowered efforts to prevent the denial of voting rights and to ensure citizen involvement. Roslyn M. Brock We know that the heart and soul of our organization lies in the work on the Chairman the year’s victories — we also laid the ground, and so we continue to identify ways to empower and support our local NAACP National Board of Directors path for even greater influence and units to achieve significant and measurable progress. In 2011, we launched a Collective Action Fund with the Tides Foundation to effectiveness in the future. help our state conferences access funds and resources to engage in state-level advocacy. The Collective Action Fund went through a pilot phase during 2011 in 4 • NAACP 2010 Annual Report NAACP 2011 Annual Report • 5 ettt t the NAACP, our strength comes I am privileged to meet and to speak with people President & CEO from our unity — and in 2011, from all walks of life and from across this nation. I our unity remained strong. see the desire we all share for a better tomorrow. We In 2011, our membership con- all seek justice and equality. We want our children to I see the desire we tinued to grow and to become inherit a better world than we did. We hope we can Amore active, while our online activists more find common ground and find reason to erase hatred all share for a better than doubled, to an impressive 600,000 and bigotry. tomorrow. We all seek participants — marking the third year in a Thank you for your continuing support in our row of steady growth, proving that people struggle to affirm America’s promise and to look ahead justice and equality. We recognize the power of common action and at what could and must be. want our children to inherit participation. As a result of this strong support from al- a better world than we did. lies across the nation, we saw the lowest levels of public support for the death penalty since 1972, a growing awareness of the heinous attack on voting rights, and the release of agenda-setting reports on health and criminal justice that helped to empower NAACP activists to Benjamin Todd Jealous win victories in tough states. President & CEO 6 • NAACP 2011 Annual Report NAACP 2011 Annual Report • 7 …the SCF board has been able to secure support that continues to rise with gratifying steadiness — with 2011 reflecting a 54% increase over funds raised by SCF in 2010. Chairman, Special Contributions Fund his year, the NAACP unfurled the banner proclaiming its theme, “Affirming plus our dedicated and skilled staff as we forge ahead into 2012, supported by the America’s Promise.” This theme is based on our mission “To ensure the po- key fundraising work of our SCF Board of Trustees. We are grateful for your support litical, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and and ask you to be a continuing part of our unremitting campaign. eliminate racial hatred and discrimination.” We must successfully imple- ment the vital programs in our mission, to affirm America’s promise. Sincerely, TResources must be available to underwrite the costs of carrying on our programs across this nation. The NAACP Special Contribution Fund (SCF), governed by a Board of Trustees is committed to helping to secure the funds and resources necessary to sup- port the mission of the NAACP. Each year, through individual and collaborative efforts, the SCF board has been able to secure support that continues to rise with gratifying Eugene J. Duffy steadiness — with 2011 reflecting a 54% increase over funds raised by SCF in 2010. Chairman You will note that this 2011 Annual Report records the effective work of our units, NAACP Special Contribution Fund Board of Trustees 8 • NAACP 2011 Annual Report NAACP 2011 Annual Report • 9 We mourn his death but are proud of the response of the people of this nation. The desire to speak out, to demand justice, is a reminder of why we fight. on the ground in Georgia, our new media and com- munications teams employed aggressive communica- tion and social media outreach, and we successfully recruited high level spokespersons and unlikely allies to weigh in on the campaign. People across America wanted to express their out- rage and find ways to help — and NAACP’s new media efforts provided that outlet. The NAACP listserv gath- ered more than a quarter million petitions delivered to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. The NAACP’s #TooMuchDoubt campaign on Twitter was so powerful it garnered profiles in USA Today and the influential tech blog Mashable. It was the second TROY DAVIS most-tweeted story of 2011, peaking at 7,671 tweets per second on September 20, the day before Troy Davis was Touching All Lives executed. One social media firm estimated that the earned-media value of the hashtag between September n the evening of August 19, 1989, Savannah, A COMMUNITy’S Support 19 and 22 alone was $3.6 million.