Ways to Give
Our generous supporters have made the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law a national leader. Help us grow our work to advance criminal justice and fairness through your gift today.
Donate to the Center
Make your meaningful gift to the Wilson Center today. In addition to accepting cash gifts and multi-year commitments, the Wilson Center can help facilitate donations of appreciated securities, distributions from donor advised funds, and other complex gifts. You can also check Duke's database(opens in new tab) of organizations that match donations to ensure you are maximizing your gift to the Wilson Center.
Your gift to the Wilson Center is tax deductible. Learn more(opens in new tab) about tax deductibility of gifts to Duke entities.
Sponsor a Center Initiative
With an annual gift of $100,000 — $500,000, your sponsorship of a Wilson Center initiative below supports our mission to advance criminal justice and fairness through the clients we represent, the research we produce, the policy conversations we shape, and the students who will carry our work forward.
To support our initiatives at the sponsorship level, including naming opportunities, contact our executive director Yvette Garcia Missri.
The Policy Lab
Our Policy Lab works at the intersection of research and real-world reform. Working with community members, students, and other partners, our policy team has delivered solutions to challenging problems. Through this work, our Policy Lab ensures that evidence drives change where it matters most.
Your sponsorship gift would fund up to two full-time policy analysts and one part-time national criminal justice policy expert, as well as team supervision, student engagement, communications support, and participation in key conferences and events to engage with policymakers and community members.
Wrongful Convictions Prevention
Every wrongful conviction represents a double injustice: an innocent person loses years or decades of their life behind bars, while the person who actually committed the crime may remain free. Through rigorous research, practical policy development, and strategic legal analysis, we provide the tools and evidence that defense attorneys, innocence organizations, and policymakers need to challenge unreliable practices and reform broken systems.
Your sponsorship gift would fund up to two research projects a year, researcher and policy analyst salaries, database development and maintenance, communications and report production, and the faculty leadership necessary to sustain this work.
Second Chances and Legal Advocacy
In North Carolina, thousands of people are held in prison who pose no threat to public safety. We provide and facilitate legal advocacy—offering hope to incarcerated people who find themselves without access to legal services. Our research informs that advocacy, and what we learn from both research and advocacy drives the systemic changes we work to make possible.
Your sponsorship gift would fund faculty and staff salaries, the direct costs of advocacy, trainings for volunteer attorneys and students, data infrastructure maintenance, and convenings to bring together corrections officials, practitioners, and policymakers.
Legal Representation in North Carolina’s Youth Prisons
There are hundreds of incarcerated children across NC. Without lawyers, there are few outside eyes monitoring youth prisons and no one making sure kids get adequate therapy and educational services. Many children feel forgotten—and without an advocate, they often are. In 2024, Sam Lawrence joined the Wilson Center as an Equal Justice Works Fellow. Drawing on his background in law and social work, Sam has designed and implemented a model of holistic defense for incarcerated children.
Your sponsorship gift would fund the Center's children's advocacy work, including direct representation, hiring a social worker to support the holistic model, and working with law students.
Support the Center's General Operations
General operating support ensures that the Wilson Center can continue its important work. It allows our faculty and researchers to devote their time, attention, and expertise to solving problems in our communities and engaging students in meaningful projects.
To make a gift to support the Center’s operations, give online or contact our executive director Yvette Garcia Missri.
Thank You to our Major Donors
- “Over the past five years, the Wilson Center has shown how Duke can bring people together across disciplines and across communities to find common ground and solutions grounded in research. I am honored to continue to support the center’s work, and I’m proud of the impact it has had—and will continue to have.” —Derek Wilson(opens in new tab), ’86, M.B.A. ’90, P’15
“I’m honored to support the JustScience Lab and the Wilson Center’s powerful mission. Our criminal legal system faces unprecedented burdens, and meeting those challenges will require a new generation of leaders who are equipped with a deep understanding of data and a passion for forging new policy solutions. Duke students are ready to meet that challenge.” —David McAtee(opens in new tab), '91
Foundation Support
