As you know, we are a non-profit law firm, fighting relentlessly to preserve our constitutional freedom and our right to exercise our faith to fulfill The Great Commission. As our 2021- 2022 fiscal year has drawn to a close, we can see how God is using all of you to bring Him glory through partnership with our cause. We are incredibly humbled and grateful for each of you.
This past year has brought great demands and tremendous challenges. However, despite all that COVID and the progressive culture has laid at our door, your continuous generosity has allowed us to exceed over $1 million in annual revenue for the first time! A pressing goal has been to bring aboard more attorneys to increase our capacity for the ever-growing needs so many are facing. With your support, we have added three attorneys to our team: Our new Chief Litigation Counsel, Nate Kellum, along with Julianne Fleischer and Kelly Dickson. We have also experienced some great victories that led to recouping over $230,000 in legal fees! These funds allow us to press on in the battles at hand and ahead.
An incredible 93% of all your donated funds go to directly support our legal work. I highlight this to show how efficient and effective Advocates has expended your funds. 7% of our funds are used in communicating our message through media outlets, the internet, social media, and with our supporters. If we did not proactively communicate with media outlets to help change the narrative, we may not have won many of our cases challenging overly restrictive COVID orders. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has had a significant impact on judicial decisions. Though communications and public relations are not directly related to litigation, they are crucial because of the impact to court decisions and outcomes.
Also noteworthy, our President and General Counsel, Robert Tyler, donated all his time not drawing a single paycheck from Advocates in the last fiscal year or in many of the years past. We’ve been incredibly disciplined with our resources to be able to accomplish what we have in the name of liberty and religious freedom. To illustrate the efficiency of our funds, here is a representation to show our expenses this past year.
Summary of Expenses
• Direct Litigation Expenses 80%
(These are expenses directly incurred that are required for litigation. These expenses relate to our online law library and technology, filing fees, court costs, lawyers, paralegals, insurance, travel expenses, and office supplies).
• Indirect Litigation Related Expenses 13%
(These are expenses incurred related to general overhead including accounting, data base management, rent, utilities, support staff, and bank fees. Without these expenses we could not perform the work we do.)
• Communications and Public Relations 7%
(These are expenses including website maintenance, media relations, associated support staff, newsletter printing and delivery, and video support.)
We have successfully defended, and continue to defend, pastors against contempt charges and discrimination, employees against unjust mandates that violate religious beliefs, and believers suffering from violations of their First Amendment rights. We believe God has tasked and privileged us with being a voice for His Kingdom. Your partnership with us allows that voice to be heard.
We appreciate and thank every precious soul who continues to walk alongside us, whether in giving, praying, or offering words of encouragement. Please continue in the walk with us as we fight the good fight, pressing onward together.
In His Service,
Nicole Velasco
Director of Communications
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father…
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3