TDCAF News
May-June 2010

Check out the 2009 Annual Report available online

Jennifer Vitera

TDCAF Development Director in Austin

We are honored to show you our very first Texas District and County Attorneys Foundation Annual Report. It summarizes what we’ve accomplished in the last year, lists all donors, and explains plans for the next year and beyond. Please review it at www.tdcaf.org.

2010 Annual Campaign needs your support!

We hope by now you have received the 2010 Annual Campaign letter, brochure, and your invitation to be a part of the Texas District and County Attorneys Foundation. The foundation is committed to continuing and improving the excellence TDCAA provides in educating and training Texas prosecutors, law enforcement, and key personnel.

This year, we have two fundraising goals for our membership groups, one for elected prosecutors and one for investigators, key personnel, and victim assistants.

 Elected Prosecutor ­campaign challenge. This year we are asking all elected prosecutors to raise $500 for the annual campaign. If all 332 prosecutors donate at this level, the foundation will receive $166,000 in unrestricted funds.

Campaign challenge for investigators, key ­personnel, and VACs. Three membership groups (investigators, key personnel, and victim assistance coordinators) have challenged each other in their fundraising. We will track the results based on dollars raised compared to percentage of membership in each of these groups and feature a regular update on who’s leading the way on our website and in The Texas Prosecutor.

Looking back at the year

With your help and the generosity of our fellow Texans, the foundation has accomplished the following in 2009:

  • hired a senior appellate attorney, John Stride, and victim services director, Suzanne McDaniel, whose salaries are funded by the foundation;
  • defrayed expenses for Train the Trainer seminars and the Advanced Trial and Appellate Advocacy Courses, which frees up grant funds to increase reimbursement to prosecutors and staff for hotel expenses;
  • published and distributed the Offense Report Manual to all prosecutor offices; and
  • honored former Harris County District Attorney Carol Vance at the third Champions for Justice event.
  •  Funding from members, foundations, corporations, and the community at large greatly increases the quality of service we can offer you, our members. I am asking you to please consider supporting the foundation by making a contribution of any size; you may send your gift using the return envelope in the Annual Campaign letter you will soon receive, or go directly to www.tdcaf.org. We appreciate your support and consideration!

In other news

Two major events are coming up. One is Guarding Texas Roadways: 2010 DWI Summit on November 12 (presented by TDCAA, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., and TDCAF). The other is the second Annual Foundation Golf Tournament, which will take place Wednesday, September 22 (the week of the Annual Criminal and Civil Law Update) on South Padre Island.

For both the DWI Summit and the golf tournament, we ask for help identifying corporations and individuals who might be interested in supporting these events. Please e-mail me at vitera ( a t ) tdcaa ( d o t ) com if there is someone in your area to whom we can send more information. Sponsorship levels are:  Platinum: $10,000; Gold: $5,000; Sterling: $2,500; and Bronze: $1,000. Money raised from sponsorships and attendees will benefit TDCAF, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.