Many individuals contribute to the Museum by way of donor-advised funds, private foundations (including family foundations), and corporate matching gifts including those made via pass-through programs like Benevity, Bright Funds, The Blackbaud Giving Fund (formerly Your Cause), and Combined Federal Campaign. We’re grateful for all of these contributions.

While all this giving supports our work, the IRS does not allow giving through these vehicles to be used for memberships with tangible benefits. Explorer memberships like ours have tangible benefits and are thus not tax-deductible contributions.

Why does this matter?

We want to protect your rights as donors and respect expectations that each corporation places on its matching gift program. We also want our Museum practices to remain aligned with IRS policies and national standard accounting practices, to protect our status as a tax-exempt, 501 (c) 3 non-profit.

What does this mean for you?

Payments made by cash, credit cards, personal checks, stocks, and securities may be used for both Explorer memberships (taxed) and all purely philanthropic (tax-deductible) giving.

Payments through donor-advised funds, private foundations, and matching gifts including pass-through programs may be used for purely philanthropic (tax-deductible) giving; however, they may not be used for membership programs with tangible benefits like ours.

Have questions?  Please contact us. We’re here to help!