Advance Tickets for the 3rd Annual FDR Memorial Lecture Now Available

Posted on January 6, 2010 by in FDR Suite

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Curtis Roosevelt and FDR at Mt. Hood, September 1937

Good news! Advance tickets for the February 27th event will be available starting tomorrow 1/7/10 at noon EST at the Harvard Box Office. While online sales won’t open to the general public until the end of this week, you may order tickets by phone by calling the HBO charge-by-phone number (617.496.2222). I’ll post the web link when available. Keep in mind that seating is limited to 180 for the dinner, and thanks to the good folks at the Harvard Alumni Association, who are helping us publicize the event this year to the general alumni body, we hope to sell out fairly quickly, so please take advantage of this advance notice to you, our members and blog readers. (Those of you entitled to discounts must contact me directly for tickets: weishan at fas dot harvard dot edu.)

Also, just in time for April 15th: the IRS has officially granted the Foundation’s status as a public tax free 501(c)3 charity, so any contributions made in 2009 (and going forward, ahem! we still need your help!) are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. We owe a HUGE round of thanks to Christopher Leich, Sara Schaffer Raux, and the entire team at Ropes & Gray LLC for their pro bono help on what turned out to be a fairly epic quest to incorporate the Foundation and set up the tax free status for our restoration and educational programs.

And finally, on the subject of donations, we’re currently soliciting contributions for our live auction during the FDR event. Non-tangible, transferable items such as vacation stays, donation of services, gift certificates, behind the scenes tours, celebrity meet and greets, club memberships, etc are ideal, so if you, or any or your acquaintances, are so generously inclined, we would be happy to receive your help. Plus it’s a great way to publicize your enterprise, and receive a tax credit to boot.

That’s all from a snowy and frigid Cambridge. More soon.

Annual Membership Perks

Posted on October 18, 2009 by in FDR Suite

A rare survivor: the wooden pull chain toilet in the FDR Suite. The bathroom requires a lion-share of repairs: decades of water damage have weakened the surrounding plaster.

A rare survivor: the wooden pull chain toilet in the FDR Suite. The bathroom requires the lion-share of structural repairs: decades of water damage have weakened the surrounding plaster, necessitating a complete renovation to preserve the historic fixtures.

We’re making a major, two-pronged fund-raising drive this month: first, we’re knee-deep in the process of applying for corporate and foundation grants for the Suite, and we’ve had some traction: a $50,000 pledge which I’m hoping to be able to announce publicly sometime later this month. This comes on top of generous donations by Wolf-Gordon, Inc. to recreate and provide historically accurate wallpaper for the suite free of charge; and pro bono legal services to set up Foundation’s tax free status by our friends at Ropes and Gray. Together these two donations come to many tens of thousands of dollars, and we are extremely grateful. Shawmut Construction, in the person of their chief preservationist Carl Jay, has also been extremely generous with architectural and construction advice.

All of this leads to the second part of the equation: our supporters (read: you). I would like to encourage you to help out by becoming annual members of the Restoration. Even with the pledges I just listed, we still have over $200,000 to raise in order to fully fund the Restoration and our planned scholarship efforts. In order to encourage participation, we’ve added a series of incentives to our various membership levels:

Member (all dues annual)
$75
Supporter
$250
Donor
$500
Trustee
$1000
Angel
$5000

Members receive individual notices and invitations to private FDR events; 10% discount on all events; special members-only email notifications about all FDR Suite news and progress.

Supporters receive the above, plus 2 free tickets to the lecture portion of the Annual FDR Memorial Lecture & Gala Dinner; preferred seating at all FDR events.

Donors recieve the above, plus two free tickets to the gala dinner portion of the event.

Trustees receive the above, plus one free night (a $200 value) per membership year in the restored FDR Suite (subject to availability, and proof of Harvard affiliation; or by special permission of the Adams House Office or Masters).

Angels receive the above, plus 4 additional nights per membership year.

At the moment, only 5% of you are active financial supporters. Please help to the extent you’re able! To become a member, click here to print out a simple mail-in form. Also, if you’re aware of a private foundation or funding source interested in protecting our cultural heritage, please let me know and we’ll be sure to knock on their door. And for those of you who’ve already given, many thanks!

(IRS Notice: tickets, stays etc. claimed as a benefit of membership valued at more than $75 are considered by the IRS to be quid pro quo donations, and reduce the charitable deduction you may claim on your returns by the value of goods and services received. Values of tickets for events are published in the website; for tax purposes, stays in the Suite are valued at $150/night. For more information, please see this IRS publication.)