If you value the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, please make a gift to help us preserve and present significant images of railroading. First and foremost, if you aren't already a member, join our community now. A gift of $40 or more a year includes a subscription to Railroad Heritage and reduced rates at conferences. All gifts are acknowledged and tax-deductible, except for $10, which is reserved for Railroad Heritage. We apply the first $40 of every gift to help maintain our services, and we encourage larger gifts for more extensive program support, as outlined below. Unless you indicate otherwise, your gifts for the year are recognized publicly by category in a publication distributed early in the next year.

You can contribute to our efforts here or by purchasing our publications. The Center offers these online services as a convenience to its members and supporters. However, if you prefer, you may use mail-in forms. These are printable from the web at Support the Center or can be obtained by contacting the Center using the information at the bottom left.

Support railroadheritage.org, Our Internet Archive

railroadheritage.org is an Internet archive and web portal that preserves and presents significant railroad images. By making the images and descriptions widely available in a systematic and consistent manner, the Center expects to boost public and scholarly ability to explore railroads and learn more about railroads through pictures and extensive informative descriptions.

General Support of the Center

Join our community now. A gift of $40 or more a year includes a subscription to Railroad Heritage and reduced rates at conferences. It provides operating income --essential for our survival--that underwrites office and administrative costs. We are grateful for our loyal members who continue their tradition of support.

GIFT CATEGORIES

Friendship Level (up to $499)

The Center is fortunate to have a group of individuals and organizations who have the ability and desire to make the Center part of their annual giving. The Center is a small, independent nonprofit organization that is proud to deliver thousands of dollars of support to railroad artists, scholars, and writers. Friends recognize our unique position and the value we and our donors together provide to our arts and railroad heritage communities. A Friends-level gift of support helps us fund the office and operating costs so the Center can nurture and cultivate its community. Join us today in these efforts.

Patron Level ($500-$999)

Patron-level support of the Center delivers the satisfaction of knowing that a gift will aid an organization that sees preservation and presentation as complementary. Routinely, railroad artists, collectors and their families contact the Center, seeking advice on where to place their collections or how to keep them relevant and in the public's eye. With no mandate to maintain museum spaces of its own, the Center provides unbiased advice and programs to the public and museum communities. Patrons take that extra step to help us maintain this two-part commitment to preservation and presentation.

Benefactor Level ($1,000-$4,999)

The Center sees railroad art and photography as legitimate artistic and historical endeavors, recognizing their value and promoting them as professional undertakings. This requires resources--to support and encourage artists, scholars, and writers to create and analyze new and past railroad artistry--and to produce traveling exhibitions, programs, and publications. All of these are costly, especially because of our commitment towards creating mainstream acceptance of railroad fine art. Benefactors recognize this challenge, and can rest assured their generous support promotes this agenda.

Donors at the Benefactor or Directors' Circle level receive an invitation and recognition at the directors dinner the evening before the "Conversations about Photography" conference.

Directors' Circle ($5,000 and above)

People interested in railroad art and photography often have an intellectual curiosity and a fiery passion for the subject. Directors' Circle members (private and corporate) see the Center as both an organization and an institution--committed to promoting and preserving our railroad heritage both today and tomorrow. Their participation demonstrates serious philanthropic investment in preserving the visual culture of railroading. Giving at this level paves the way for the Center's long-term future and continued recognition of the importance of railroads and railroadng to America's visual culture and history.

Please contact the Center for more information about this level of support.

Center for Railroad Photography & Art
1914 Monroe St.
P.O. Box 259330
Madison, WI 53725
608-251-5785
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