National WWI Museum and Memorial Receives Significant Gifts to Digitize Its Collection
National WWI Museum and Memorial (Kansas City) announced a $500,000 gift from the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Bank, Trustee and a $155,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities toward digitizing the Museum’s entire collection. Said Jonathan Kemper, Chairman of the William T. Kemper Foundation, “We fundamentally believe that leadership in understanding digital technology, and employing it in innovative ways, can and will be transformative to the Museum, keeping it vital, relevant and engaged.” Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Museum staff members have transcribed over 13,000 letters and artifacts from the collection. Additionally, over 2,000 object records have been digitized in 2020, which will allow the content to be easily indexed, searched and translated into other languages in the future.
$3.8 Million Raised, $1.3 Million in 2020
Community School of the Arts (Fort Smith, Ark.) raised $1.3 million for the Inspiring Excellence campaign in 2020. CSA found supporters were highly motivated to give to this important arts project that will reach hundreds of students in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Founder and Executive Director Dr. Rosilee Russell shared, “CSA is so grateful for the generosity of so many donors! We anticipate some additional major gifts to come in during 2021 as we prepare to break ground on the Center for the Creative Arts, a state-of-the-arts facility for children and youth.”
Gift from Lilly Endowment to Explore the Enduring Impact of WWI on Religion and Faith
National WWI Museum and Memorial (Kansas City) received a $2.5-million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative to establish an endowed curator position on faith and religion, strengthen public programming on religion and war, enhance online exhibitions and resources on religion and increase its collection of religious objects and materials. This grant will enable the Museum to preserve artifacts related to faith, religion and spirituality in WWI, deepen its body of knowledge about the history of faith, religion and WWI, and make these learnings accessible to the general public.
$650,000 Raised to Advance Women’s Economic and Civic Leadership
United WE (Kansas City) raised more than $650,000 to advance all women’s economic and civic leadership through its We Work for Change event. Diane von Furstenberg served as the event’s headliner. Volunteer leaders Linda and Paul DeBruce and Lindsey Patterson Smith spearheaded the successful event. Congratulations also goes to President and CEO Wendy Doyle for her leadership in scaling United WE’s award-winning Appointments Project® across the country, beginning in Ft. Worth and Pittsburgh, to increase the number of women serving on civic boards and commissions.
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