Open Call for Membership: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

	Become a Charter Member of the Museum!

Dear Friend,

On behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, I am very happy to announce the launch of the Charter Membership Program for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Today I am honored to invite you to formally join as a Charter Member to help build the Smithsonian Institution’s next great Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

When you become a Charter Member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, you too will make an indelible mark on our nation’s landscape by helping to create this new and long overdue Museum.

An event like this only happens once in a lifetime. It is a rare opportunity for you to become part of the Museum from the very beginning. When you join your name will be formally entered into the Museum’s prestigious Honor Roll of Charter Members.

The Honor Roll will be prominently displayed at the Museum for you and your family to see when you visit. Even if you are not able to visit in person, you will still be able to view your name online on the Museum’s website.

That’s why I urge you to use any of the links in this letter to contribute $25 or more today, and become a Charter Member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Charter Membership is a very special honor! As a member, you will receive the following:

• For your gift of $25, you receive a membership card valid for a 10% discount at all Smithsonian Stores and online, our Museum newsletter, a one-year subscription to the quarterly magazine American Legacy, and e-mail updates about Museum events, programs, and exhibitions.
  
  
• For your gift of $40, you also receive a beautiful Certificate of Appreciation suitable for framing that recognizes your participation as a Charter Member.
  
  
• For your gift of $100, you also receive the double CD Every Tone a Testimony, a fascinating aural history of African Americans in words, music and poetry.
  
  
• For your gift of $250, you also receive the book Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits.
  
  

If you are able to give $1,000 or more, I will be delighted to welcome you as a member of the Director’s Circle, a special group of leaders who are rewarded with invitations to exclusive events, behind the scenes exhibition tours, and a copy of the beautiful book The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise, documenting 90 years of African American life in the Nation’s Capital.

Our challenge now is to raise the money we need to build this powerful addition to the American cultural landscape. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2012 with the opening in 2015.

We need a total of $500 million to build the Museum. Congress has committed to provide half that amount to ensure this important initiative moves forward. And, that means we need to raise an additional $250 million in private donations from friends like you.

With your support as a Charter Member, we will ensure that the stories — the voices, if you will — of African Americans from the earliest days to the present are recorded and preserved for all time.

Together, you and I will create a wonderful new place for all Americans that, at long last, explores, celebrates and recognizes the experiences and contributions African Americans have made in shaping our national character and culture. Thank you!

All the best,


Lonnie G. Bunch
Director

P.S.	Again, thank you so much for your interest and support. Please take a moment right now to join as a Charter Member and place your name where it rightly belongs, on our Honor Roll of Charter Members.