Melanie Hildreth is Senior Advisor for Development at the Institute for Justice, where she leads the Institute’s major gifts program and provides strategic support during a long-planned leadership transition within IJ’s development team. She works closely with IJ’s President and Vice President for Development to guide cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of IJ’s highest-level donors and to ensure that IJ’s fundraising strategy remains consistent with the principled pursuit of its mission and the effective use of donor support.
Melanie first joined IJ in 2005 and previously served as Vice President for External Relations. Over more than 15 years, she played a central role in IJ’s institutional growth, helping the organization expand from a $6.8 million operation with 38 staff to a $31 million national organization. Her work spanned major gifts, planned giving, donor communications, and management, and she contributed to organization-wide strategic planning and execution.
Melanie has worked closely with many of IJ’s leading supporters, cultivating and stewarding major individual and foundation relationships and securing five-, six-, and seven-figure gifts, including three multi-million-dollar challenge grants, which she helped design, managed, and brought to successful completion. She founded IJ’s Four Pillars Society to recognize supporters who have included IJ in their estate plans, growing the society from 17 members to more than 650 and helping build a legacy giving program representing more than $127 million in planned gift commitments.
Between her two tenures at IJ, Melanie led an independent consulting practice advising nonprofit organizations, boards of directors, and philanthropic leaders on strategic planning, board facilitation, development program design, and legacy society strategy. She also served as Chief of Staff at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, where she helped grow organizational revenue by more than 50% and strengthened internal systems to support institutional growth.
Melanie began her career in development at the Bill of Rights Institute. She graduated summa cum laude from DePauw University with a degree in philosophy and was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist from the state of Indiana. She lives with her husband, Jeff, and their three children in the Shenandoah Valley outside Washington, D.C.
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Melanie's News, Articles & Publications
Melanie's Podcasts
September 28, 2021
IJ at 30: IJ President Scott Bullock on the Cases and Clients that Changed IJ and the Law (A Deep Dive Best Of)
IJ President Scott Bullock on the Cases and Clients that Changed IJ and the Law (A Deep Dive Best Of)
Before he was IJ’s president, Scott Bullock spent 25 years as an IJ attorney. In this episode, he recounts his years in the trenches as […]
Listen NowAugust 26, 2021
Will the Supreme Court overturn its infamous decision letting developers take your property?
From pipelines to private development, the high court is indicating an interest in doing a better job for property owners
Though Susette Kelo’s fight to save her home from her city’s efforts to take it for a private developer ended in 2005, the fight against […]
Listen NowAugust 09, 2021
These People Lost $85 Million in an L.A. Heist…and the Robber was the FBI
How an illegal search and seizure turned into a federal cash grab
In March 2021, FBI agents broke into private safe deposit boxes at the Southern California business U.S. Private Vaults and—though no individual box owner was […]
Listen NowJune 29, 2021
Cities Caught Extracting Millions From Residents Through Fines and Fees Traps
In Episode 30 of Deep Dive, we talked about how fines for harmless property code violations could snowball into six-figure debt. All too often, municipalities […]
Listen NowJune 21, 2021
Supreme Court Shuts Down Police on Entering Your Home Without a Warrant
The government argued that if police aren’t investigating a crime, they should be able to access your property
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Caniglia v. Strom, a case about the “community caretaking” exception to the general principle […]
Listen NowMay 24, 2021
This Florida Woman Got a $100,000 Fine for Parking in Her Own Driveway
How Trivial Code Violations Can Lead to Financial Ruin—And How to Fight Back
After Sandy Martinez got a ticket from Lantana, Florida, for parking her car with its wheels slightly outside her driveway and on the grass in […]
Listen NowMay 06, 2021
These Laws Let Your Competitors Decide When Your Business is “Needed”
What are “Certificates of Need,” and who should get to decide whether an entrepreneur can try out a business idea?
When IJ client Abdallah Batayneh tried to open a resort shuttle service in rural Colorado, his application was denied by a state regulatory agency at […]
Listen NowApril 30, 2021
Law for Non-Lawyers - Standards of Review (A Deep Dive Best of)
Why do property, economic, and other vital liberties get only “rational basis” review?
What does it mean when courts apply “strict scrutiny” in their review of a law? Why do property, economic, and other vital liberties get only […]
Listen NowMarch 29, 2021
“Predictive Policing” Algorithm Creates a Dystopian Nightmare for Residents of This Florida Town
How One Sheriff’s Office Harasses and Arrests Citizens It Suspects of Future Crimes
When the Institute for Justice filed suit against the so-called predictive policing program in Pasco County, Florida, the Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying that […]
Listen NowMarch 11, 2021
Talking to a Client in the Wrong Location Makes This Counselor a Criminal
Restrictions on teletherapy hurt people and violate the First Amendment
Elizabeth Brokamp is a professional counselor who just wants to help people at a time when many Americans need it more than ever. But if […]
Listen NowFebruary 24, 2021
Uses (and Misuses) of Amicus Briefs | (A Deep Dive Best Of)
The Whys, Whens, and Hows of Being a Friend of the Court
IJ Senior Attorneys Robert McNamara and Paul Sherman discuss amicus briefs: what they are, where they came from, and how IJ—and others—use them for maximum […]
Listen NowFebruary 08, 2021
Censorship, Dangerous Speech, and Monopolies
Why a modern day Fairness Doctrine isn’t the solution, what Section 230 really does, and what the current debate has to do with free speech, property rights, and even shopping malls in the 1980s
Big technology companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook have come under scrutiny for the ways they are—and are not—controlling speech on their platforms. In today’s […]
Listen NowJanuary 29, 2021
Security Guards Assault Innocent Vet at the VA—and Claim Immunity
An outrageous decision from the 5th Circuit threatens his rights—and those of everyone in three states
What should have been a routine dental appointment at his local VA took a frightening turn for 70-year-old Jose Oliva when security guards tackled him […]
Listen NowJanuary 12, 2021
This Is What Happens When States Abolish Civil Forfeiture
Research shows that policing for profit is a big problem—but it’s one that states can fix
In 2015, New Mexico abolished a controversial practice known as civil forfeiture. Critics of the reform claimed it would be a gift to criminals, increasing […]
Listen NowJanuary 04, 2021
Qualified Immunity: Are Government Officials Above the Law? (A Deep Dive Best Of)
How Government Officials Can Blow Up Your House with Grenades—and Get Away With It by Claiming Immunity
Over the past several months, a national spotlight has been on the doctrine of qualified immunity. Although much of the recent focus has been on […]
Listen NowDecember 28, 2020
Property Rights and Homeless Shelters—What Has the Supreme Court Said?
How one local government board is trying to stop people from helping the homeless—and what the law says about whether they can
The Catherine H. Barber Memorial Homeless Shelter is the only option for people experiencing temporary homelessness in all of Wilkes County, North Carolina. It’s been […]
Listen NowDecember 22, 2020
When Can the Government Lock You in Your House? (A Deep Dive Best Of)
Revisiting “Quarantines and the Constitution”
With new lockdowns happening all over the country and internationally, we want to revisit the government’s use of police power. Just what does your state […]
Listen NowDecember 07, 2020
City Officials Threw an Elderly Woman in Jail for Criticizing Them—Then Claimed Immunity
How one Texas town retaliated against a citizen for trying to improve her community
Special investigators, trumped up charges, and a night in jail. What happened to Sylvia Gonzalez is truly outrageous—and the local government’s reaction to her efforts […]
Listen NowNovember 13, 2020
Can the Government Require Warning Labels for Veggie Burgers?
Why the First Amendment should protect the way companies talk about their products
In 2020, debates about veggie burgers and almond milk may sound like small potatoes. But controversies about how the government can regulate the way that […]
Listen NowOctober 16, 2020
Law for Non-Lawyers: Precedent
Most people think they know what “precedent” means in the law, but the concept is actually more complicated than most realize! Precedent is ancient, but […]
Listen NowSeptember 29, 2020
California Says These Firefighters Can’t Work—and the Reason Makes No Sense
How a so-called collateral consequence law means California keeps experienced firefighters from earning a living fighting fires
Wildfires are raging across the West, and California is grappling with a record-breaking season. Why, then, does the state tell qualified firefighters that they can’t […]
Listen NowSeptember 08, 2020
How Federal Agents Can Legally Take Your Money at the Airport
The simple trick the feds use to take hundreds of millions of dollars from travelers
Law enforcement agencies routinely seize currency from travelers at airports using civil forfeiture—a legal process that allows agencies to take and keep property without ever […]
Listen NowAugust 20, 2020
Did the Supreme Court Just Say States Have to Fund Religion?
Unpacking the Court’s Espinoza ruling
When it handed down Espinoza v. MT Dept. of Revenue this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court added one more facet to a year that has […]
Listen NowAugust 13, 2020
It’s Time to Fund Students, Not Systems
Why the future of education is student-centered
With an increasing number of parents desperately seeking educational alternatives for the upcoming school year, teachers’ unions and school districts are doubling down on the […]
Listen NowAugust 06, 2020
Can the Government Put Cameras on Your Property Without a Warrant?
Why the 4th Amendment Doesn’t Protect You Like You Think It Does
Decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court created the so-called Open Fields Doctrine. The result was an exception to 4th Amendment restrictions on the government’s ability […]
Listen NowJuly 13, 2020
Court Strips Elderly Woman of Her Home and Ruins Her Life
A tree falls on an elderly woman’s home—and a court run without due process or oversight takes everything from her
After a tree fell on her house, IJ client Sarah Hohenberg’s journey through Memphis’ Environmental Court left her bankrupt, homeless, stripped of her possessions, and […]
Listen NowJune 18, 2020
Why Won’t the Supreme Court Hold Police Accountable?
What’s next in the fight against qualified immunity
This term the U.S. Supreme Court closely considered eight different petitions dealing with the controversial doctrine of qualified immunity. Ultimately, it denied them all. In […]
Listen NowMay 21, 2020
Can the Government Throw You Out of Work? (Not in Some States!)
Revitalizing Legal Protections for the Right to Earn a Living
With more Americans out of work than any time in recorded history, whether or not they will be able to earn a living is top […]
Listen NowApril 30, 2020
Current Legal Challenges to COVID-19 Rules
As the coronavirus pandemic upends life and work, we dig into the latest virus-related legal developments.
We’ve all been watching the unprecedented situation with COVID-19 play out. At IJ, we have a particular interest in what’s happening in the law. This […]
Listen NowApril 03, 2020
When Can the Government Lock You in Your House? Quarantines and the Constitution
IJ Attorneys Discuss States’ Police Powers
As we all deal with the many changes in day to day life brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, have you ever wondered just what […]
Listen Now