Willie T. "Timmy" Donald walked out of Indiana's Miami Correctional Facility on February 4, 2016, after serving 24 years of his life for a crime he didn't commit. Since then, the State of Indiana hasn’t provided a dime of financial compensation for wrongfully imprisoning him. We can’t give him back those 24 years, but we hope to make it a little easier for him to retire comfortably. Timmy Donald's Story On February 27, 1992, an assailant robbed five people at gunpoint, killing one, in Gary, Indiana, while Timmy Donald helped his sister and her husband pick out a car at a dealership on the other side of town. A week later, two witnesses hesitantly picked Mr. Donald's photo out of a book of mugshots at the police station, saying he looked like a little like their attacker. The only reason his mugshot was in the police station's book was because he was arrested years earlier for sitting in a relative’s car that was wrongly reported stolen. That charge was dropped, and Mr. Donald was never arrested again – but his photo stayed in the police’s book. Security footage would have shown Timmy at the car dealership with his sister at the time the robberies took place. However, his public defender, who was busy running for mayor at the time, failed to request the tapes before they were discarded. A jury convicted Mr. Donald based only on the witness identifications.   Mr. Donald made the best of his time in prison, while steadfastly pursuing all available legal pathways to prove his innocence. He obtained two degrees behind bars, an associate's degree in general studies and a bachelor's in business. Tom Vanes, his defense attorney since his first appeal, worked pro bono on his behalf for more than 10 years to get the conviction overturned. Students from Northwestern University's Medill Innocence Project also re-investigated the case, uncovering evidence that the witness IDs were flawed.  Finally, in 2013, the State's star witness formally recanted her identification, and in February 2016 – when Mr. Donald was 47 years old – an Indiana judge overturned all his convictions and he was set free. Post-Release After his release, Mr. Donald became actively involved with other exonerees nationally, sharing his story to support others who have been wrongfully convicted. He serves as a volunteer on the board of the <a href="https://www.pnw.edu/college-of-humanities-education-social-sciences/exoneration-coalition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Willie T Donald Exoneration Advisory Coalition</a> , which was established by Purdue University Northwest Criminal Justice professor Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson. The coalition provides assistance to Indiana exonerees, raises public awareness on wrongful convictions, and works on policy reform. How Can You Help? Mr. Donald has been working as a maintenance worker for the past two years, and prior to that, worked odd jobs to earn money. Because he lost 24 years of his working life, he has no vested retirement funds or Social Security. His current position is low-paying and doesn’t allow him to save for the future. Without our help, Mr. Donald, a victim of the most egregious miscarriage of justice, will have to work for the rest of his life. Please join us in ensuring that Mr. Donald has an opportunity to live without the continued financial burden thrust upon him when he was wrongly arrested, convicted, and incarcerated.   We can’t ever give him back those 24 years, but we can make sure that he can live as comfortably as possible in his well-deserved freedom. Thank you for contributing to this fundraiser so that Mr. Donald can one day retire from his job and have savings to live on during his retirement. --- This fundraiser is a joint effort by Sarah Sumadi, who was one of the many students who worked on Timmy Donald's case with Northwestern University’s Medill Innocence Project in 2009, and Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Purdue University Northwest. Dr. Jackson and Mr. Donald work together on the <a href="https://www.pnw.edu/college-of-humanities-education-social-sciences/exoneration-coalition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Willie T Donald Exoneration Advisory Coalition</a>, which addresses re-integration needs of those wrongfully convicted in Indiana. For the full story of Timmy's case, check out a series of stories from the <a href="https://www.nwitimes.com/digital/graphics/a-look-back-at-the-willie-t-donald-saga/collection_ec2f0222-c3b5-11e5-a562-13d723b7462b.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Northwest Indiana Times</a> , and the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-davich-willie-donald-st-0208-20160205-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chicago Tribune</a>.

Anonymous

Emma Irene Dexter

Kathy Harrell

kristian villanueva

Michele Heffley

Albert Woerner

Molly Thompson

Joan Antoine

Marie Ciarkowski

Kevina Adams

Roylanda Stewart

Cory Ogrodnik

Shira Habig

Beth A Pixley

Righting the Wrong of a Wrongful Conviction

Support urgent earthquake relief and past recovery in Venezuela.

Apoya la ayuda urgente tras el terremoto y los esfuerzos de recuperación en Venezuela.

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

Support Comments Allowlist

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

checkout headers audience

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Righting the Wrong of a Wrongful Conviction

Still $8,525 to go. Help us build momentum.