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The Philolexian Foundation
In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII
In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII
Support the Foundation · I.
Every gift to the Philolexian Foundation is tax-deductible. Funds support the student Society, the awards program, and the Quest for Halls.
The Foundation maintains extraordinarily low operating costs — every member of the board is a volunteer. Last year, the Foundation's total operating expenses were under $400 (filing fees, bank fees, and the like). Everything else went either to fund student activities directly or was added to the Foundation's savings.
The Foundation accepts gifts in any amount and via any of the methods below. The most common gift is a one-time online contribution; recurring monthly gifts are very much welcome. For larger or more complicated gifts such as charitable remainder trusts, gifts of appreciated securities, qualified charitable IRA distributions, donor-advised-fund grants, or gifts of real property, please write to the Treasurer through Contact.
The Foundation has, over the years, accumulated a small collection of Philolexian-related things: signed first editions from alumni, correspondence, dinner programs, medals, portraits, minute-books, and, on one memorable occasion, a very nice pair of shoes with a great deal of history. We hold them, catalogue them, and look forward to giving them a proper home once the Quest for Halls is fulfilled.
If you are the estate, family, or heir of a Philolexian, the Foundation would be honored to receive literary mementos such as books, letters, papers, ephemera, or personal effects that carry a piece of the Society's history. We will arrange top-of-market appraisal at no cost to you, provide the paperwork the IRS requires, and see the material to a good home now and a better one later.
If you are a living Philolexian, and particularly a younger alumna or alumnus with new work in print, the Society asks that you bring a signed first edition of each published book to the Annual Dinner. The book is acknowledged from the podium, entered into the Foundation's records, and added to the shelf that becomes, in time, the Society's permanent library.
To offer an artifact of any kind, please write to us through Contact.
To the private collector who has acquired the 1768 King's College Literary Society Medal awarded to Gouverneur Morris: the medal, as far as we know, is the earliest surviving totem of our Society's history. If a day comes on which a donation to a charitable non-profit is the arrangement that makes the most sense for you, please write. The Foundation would give the medal the most honored home it could have, and see it safely into halls of our own when the time comes.
The Foundation stewards funds for the student Society, the awards, and the search for a permanent home. Every gift is tax-deductible.