Our Endowment Is Our Future

And you play an important role in both.

We're talking about securing our organization's future. We're talking about expanding our programs, extending our mission, and reaching out to greater numbers of people to help in more effective and exciting ways.

We're talking about building endowment.

What is Endowment?

An endowment is a permanent fund that provides annual support to the Science Museum. It serves a similar purpose to the kind of saving your family does when you establish a retirement plan or set up a savings account. It is how we prudently set money aside to make our future secure.

Unlike a savings account, however, an endowment lasts in perpetuity so that a regular stream of support is available to us every year—now and for decades, or even centuries, to come.

It enables us to pursue our mission in bigger and better ways.

Endowment will enable the Museum to make the future brighter in some very specific ways:

• Endowment growth will mean that the Museum can rely on income from these investments rather than on admissions fees. Think of what it could mean if all school children or groups from low income communities could visit the Museum free of charge.
• Continuous advancements both in scientific understanding as well as in exhibit technology mean that science center exhibits must be refreshed periodically. Endowment growth provides the resources to address wear and tear, to keep our exhibits current, and to ensure our guests have a quality experience.
• The Science Museum is focused on its guests rather than any collection of artifacts. Endowment provides the steady support necessary to ensure quality guest experiences even in difficult economic times.

Planned Gifts Build Endowment

“Endowment is a worthwhile goal,” you might say, “but how can my gift make any difference?”

There are many ways to create an endowment gift. Outright gifts of cash and appreciated securities, for example, provide an immediate boost to our endowment and are gratefully received. But one of the best ways to make a meaningful endowment gift (and reap some personal benefits as well) is to make a “planned gift.”

Planned gifts include gifts created through your will, living trust, retirement plan or life insurance policy. Also included are giving tools we call “gifts that pay you back” such as charitable trusts and gift annuities that provide you with an income stream for the rest of your life.

Some planned gifts entitle you to an immediate income tax deduction; others provide flexibility during your lifetime and can provide benefits to your estate and your heirs. All of them enable you to create a philanthropic legacy much more meaningful than you may have ever imagined.

We will be pleased to talk with you confidentially about the opportunities for you to support our endowment. We will also be happy to share more information with you about planned gifts and how they can meet your personal, financial and philanthropic goals. Please contact us. And we invite you to look further into these Gifts Anyone Can Make.

Thank you for your interest and support. The gifts you plan today will create a solid foundation for the Science Museum tomorrow and far into the future.