Staying Nimble FINDING NEW WAYS TO ELEVATE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING Top of the News 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Ballot ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Letter from the Board Chair On many levels, 2020 was both historic and humbling. A global pandemic and economic crisis. Social unrest and calls for racial justice. Political extremism and democracy under siege. Any one of these topics would be enough to contend with in a normal year, but at once 2020 brought many issues into plain sight. What we learned last year is that at a time of uncertainty and upheaval, the public’s hunger for reliable news and information grows exponentially. The STAFF challenge for the Virginia Public Access Project was to meet that demand, while adapting to remote work and rethinking nearly every aspect of our operation. David M. Poole Executive Director We enhanced VaNews to add “Top of the News” for those who value a quick summary of headlines. We developed a COVID-19 dashboard to make it easy Ric Arenstein to track coronavirus cases and deaths as reported by the Virginia Department Major Gifts Officer of Health. And we modified our traditional election night coverage to account for early voting and delayed returns. Rachel Dominy Graphic Design and I am proud of the many ways, large and small, the VPAP team seized Communications Manager opportunity and adapted during such a challenging year. You will find a few of those instances outlined in this annual report. Jason Kostyk Data Developer All of this success was made possible by the encouragement and support of our nearly 1,500 donors. Your investment in our nonpartisan mission is what Max Lee sustained us during the darkest moments of 2020, and we appreciate your Visual Programmer continued partnership. Ali Mislowsky On behalf of the VPAP Board of Directors, thank you for your generosity that VaNews Coordinator allows us to provide trusted information and elevate public understanding of Virginia government and politics. Sarah Stack Office Manager Michael Stanley Data Analyst Jeffrey M. Britt CONTACT VPAP Board Chair Phone: (804) 353-4300 Headquarters Board of Directors 1209 E. Cary Street, Suite 200 Richmond, VA 23219 Mailing Address P.O. Box 1472 Richmond, VA 23218 Jeffrey M. Britt Marvin Figueroa Ross Grogg Nneka Chiazor Tom Cosgrove The Virginia Public Access Project is a Chair Vice Chair Treasurer Cox Communications Newport News McGuireWoods U.S. Department of Health Kemper Consulting Shipbuilding 503(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. All Consulting and Human Services donations to VPAP are deductible on federal taxes to the full extent of the law. Federal Tax ID 54-1825691. Carol Ford Elizabeth Hooper Bill Leighty John O’Bannon Deborah Oswalt Nicole Riley Serco Inc. Virginia Tech DecideSmart, LLC Neurological Virginia Health Care NFIB FOLLOW VPAP Associates Foundation @vpapupdates facebook.com/VPAP.org Abigail Farris Steven Shapiro Nancy Smith Harrison Wallace Andrew Clark @vpapupdates Rogers Retired Teacher Middle Resolution Climate and Clean Home Builders YMCA of Greater Energy Equity Fund Association of Virginia Richmond Relearn Everything Like you, the past year forced the VPAP team to rethink just about everything we do. Our team shifted to remote work, used online events to expand our audience and focused on helping Virginians understand the pandemic’s impact on the November elections. Tracking COVID-19 When the pandemic hit, but before the Department of Health could build out its own dashboard, VPAP put its data visualization expertise to work keeping Virginians informed about COVID-19 in their area. Going Virtual We re-imagined our in-person fundraiser, producing a fun-filled 30-minute show. By shifting our annual post-election retrospective online, we tripled our audience and attracted viewers from across Virginia. Virtual Fundraiser Election Retrospective Rethinking Election Night In September, we began to track record-setting early voting. In November, we redesigned our Election Night pages to prepare our viewers for the possibility that concentrating millions of votes in a small number of central absentee precincts could lead to sudden, late swings in the outcome. (Above) We produced a short video explaining how absentee votes could affect election results. (Left) Visual showing the weight of absentee votes in Richmond City. Our 2020 Supporters The Virginia Public Access Project is a nonprofit that relies on support from its users. VPAP would like to thank the following financial contributors who make our work possible: $115,000 $10,000 Mike Bisceglia $4,000 Bobbi Bowman PPP Loan/Grant Clean Virginia LS Power Associates Becky and Hap Chalmers Al Dwoskin McGuireWoods Consulting Charles Ryan Associates* $50,000 ESG Enterprises, Inc. Smithfield Foods Richard B. Gilliam Barbara Fried TowneBank Richmond Ronald D. Abramson Margaret and Shashikant Gupta Marvin W. Gilliam Jr.* Virginia Tech The Mousetrap Foundation Robert R. Hatten John O. Wynne James W. Hazel $40,000 $3,000 $7,500 William H. Leighty* Edward H. Rice* Harry T. Lester AARP Virginia* Altria Group Mercer Trigiani LLP AT&T $25,000 Comcast Gil Minor Capital Results Loren W. Hershey* M. Yaqub Mirza Josée G. Covington* Cox Communications W. Sheppard Miller III Northern Va. Electric Cooperative John T. Hazel Jr. $20,000 Scott C. Plein Vince Mastracco $6,000 Michael J. Quillen Michael Morency* Dominion Energy* Joan M. Huffer and Linda and Steven Shapiro* Praxis Foundation William A. Olson Robert H. Dugger S. Sonjia Smith Old Dominion Electric Mark Ohrstrom TowneBank Cooperative $15,000 William M. Backer Foundation Deborah Oswalt Matthew Calkins $5,000 June A. Williams Mr. and Mrs. James E. Ukrop Tom Hirst M. Dendy Young Va. AFL-CIO Mrs. Robin Baliles Allison Weinstein and Ivan Jecklin Va. Realtors* John H. Birdsall III Verizon *Gave more than amount listed 2020 Financial Results Revenue Annual Fund $598,199 $1,074,078 September Event $187,800 PPP Grant $115,400 VaNews $114,938 Media $32,574 Candidates $17,746 Other $7,421 Expenses Personnel $637,613 $930,546 Technology $112,020 Professional Services $100,396 Rent, Admin $40,463 Marketing $35,418 Other $4,636 $2,500 Adams Construction Company Carol W. Ford $700 Jean Kane* W. Heywood Fralin Apartment & Office Building Assn. Advantus Strategies George L. Ohrstrom II* William H. Fralin Jr. CGI Alliance Group Riverside Health System George Mason University* The Dragas Companies American Council of Engineering United Company Home Builders Assn. of Va. Rick Gallaer Companies of Va. Va. Assn. of Broadcasters Charles James Paul Hirschbiel Jr. Del. Lamont Bagby Va. Bankers Assn. Jo-Kell Inc James Hixon Bonaventure Realty Group Va. Dental Assn.* Karen Kallay E. Scott Kasprowicz Breakthru Beverage Va. Bobbie and Bill Kilberg Chesapeake Bay Foundation Macaulay & Jamerson Council of Independent Colleges Thomas W. Minnick in Va. Jeff Mitchell Enviva LP Linda & Stephen Nash Equitrans Midstream Corp Northern Va. Technology Council Hancock Daniel Hon. John O’Bannon James River Air Conditioning Co People for the Ethical Treatment CenturyLink of Animals* NFIB The Pew Charitable Trusts* Omega Protein Del. Kenneth R. Plum Robert P. Kegley Sanofi Va. Hospital & Healthcare Assn. David Poole and Clare Tilton Babur Lateef* Universal Corporation Washington Gas* Louis Rossiter Aubrey Layne The Vectre Corporation John Whitbeck Sally & Walter Rugaber The May Family Foundation Va. Assn. of Nurse Anesthetists James R. Smith Thomas Meehan Va. Automobile Dealers Assn. $1,400 Marcia Neuhaus and David G. Christine and John Milliken Va. Farm Bureau Speck Newport News Shipbuilding Anheuser-Busch Va. League of Conservation Voters Todd A. Stottlemyer Northern Va. Assn. of Realtors Bon Secours Va. Health System Va. Natural Gas Timothy J. Sullivan Mary and Clarke Ohrstrom Thomas J. Cosgrove* Va. Society of CPAs Andrew and Virginia Tilton Port of Va. Cozen O’Connor University of Virginia Wendy and Tom Rosenthal HCA Va. Hospitals Va. Press Assn. Luck Stone Corporation Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. Reed Smith Scott Voorhees* Va. Assn. of Health Plans Va. Cable Telecom Assn. $2,000 $1,200 Allen Allen Allen & Allen Anthem Robert M. Johnson* Appalachian Power Company Nicole A. Riley VA, MD & DE Assn. of Electric $600 Leslie Cheek III $1,000 Cooperatives Colonial Downs* Va. Beverage Assn. David V. Evans* Enterprise Rent-a-Car Advanced Energy Economy* Va. Credit Union League Marvin Figueroa* Jack L. Harris Ric Arenstein* Va. Wine Wholesalers Assn. The Gaston Group Landmark Foundation Frank B. Atkinson Judy Ford Wason Natalie Hart Ivor Massey Jr. Atlantic Dominion Distributors WestRock Bernard Henderson Jr. Sentara Healthcare Robert W. Bailie John D. Whitlock Anna Marie Hicks and Harry Dawn and Stuart Siegel Philippe Beauchene Ed Yates Lehman Troutman Sanders Dave Belote David Poisson* Va. Assn. of Counties Kelli and Andrew Block $750 Ken Schrad Va. Chamber of Commerce Frank B. Bradley III Va. Assn. of Community Banks Robert Brink* Va. Education Assn. R. Bruce Bradley Va. Oil & Gas Assn. Chip Dicks* Va. Municipal League Breeden Company Katharine M. Webb Margaret Edds* Va. Trial Lawyers Assn. Jeffrey Breit Elwood Consulting John Watkins January & Jeff Britt $500 Kemper Consulting* Williams Mullen Landon V. Butler Nancy A. Smith Charles and Deanna Akre Ralph Byers* Uber* Rebecca Anderson $1,500 CarilionClinic University of Richmond School Carneal Drew Foundation Nneka Chiazor B2L Consulting LLC* of Professional & Continuing Andrew Clark Commonwealth Connections Columbia Gas of Va. Studies* David P. Cohn CSX Corporation Commonwealth Strategy Group* Va. Poultry Federation* Common Sense Strategies* Jeannemarie and Tom Davis GEICO Va. Poverty Law Center* Richard Cullen Sen. Bill DeSteph Cragg Hines Va. Transportation Construction Barbara D. Davis Allison Cryor DiNardo Independent Insurance Agents Alliance Josephine de Give Division of Legislative Services of Va. Mark C. Williams *Gave more than amount listed Thank you to our 2020 Supporters Suzette Denslow $400 Ann Phillips Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg Jacob Derzon Carole Pratt Del. Jeion Ward Lesley Boger* Dewberry Principle Advantage Del. Vivian Watts Commissioners of the Revenue Deborah DiCroce Property Casualty Insurers Assn.