ANNUAL FUND APPEAL LETTER FROM ASOR PRESIDENT SUSAN ACKERMAN
Dear ASOR colleague,
It’s been a big year for ASOR. Indeed, this past year has surely been one of the most eventful in ASOR’s 119-year history, as we finalized our move from our Boston offices of 22 years to our new location in Alexandria, VA. This relocation culminated in April with our purchase of a permanent and enduring home for ASOR!
This new facility, named the James F. Strange Center in honor of one of ASOR’s most dedicated and long-serving members, is a beautifully renovated 1880 townhouse located in the heart of Alexandria’s historic Old Town. By the time of purchase, we had raised nearly $1 million to acquire our new building, and we have also raised all but $50,000 of funds we need to secure a final $450,000 challenge gift offered to us by an anonymous donor. Once all these monies are in hand, we can pay back the funds we borrowed to buy the James F. Strange Center, plus establish an endowment to finance its ongoing maintenance. We could not be happier to be resident in the James F. Strange Center, nor could I be prouder of our members, who have given so generously in order to make possible this important investment in ASOR’s future.
And the record-setting 461 of you who made a donation to ASOR by the end of 2019 fiscal year, on June 30, helped us do so much more. We continue to enhance our Annual Meeting, and we are thrilled that the 2019 Annual Meeting at the Westin San Diego will have an even richer and more dynamic program—with 60 additional papers and posters—than we presented last time we were in San Diego, in 2014. We have established a new fellowship, the Lawrence T. Geraty Community Archaeology Endowment, to fund conservation projects at archaeological sites, which is the sixth endowed fellowship and grant fund we have put in place since 2013. As of January 1, 2019, we have a new editor for Near Eastern Archaeology, Stephanie Budin, and she’s off to a great start. And our Cultural Heritage Initiatives program has, most recently, helped coordinate a program for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides at iconic Libyan archaeological sites, featuring “pop-up” museums with temporary displays about the sites and jamboree-style workshops.
ASOR could not do all this—and everything else we do—without your help. To the record-setting 461 of you who gave to ASOR in FY 2019, I offer my deepest and most sincere thanks. And I thank all our members in advance for your gifts that will help support ASOR in the year to come. ASOR will thrive because of you!
With gratitude,
Susan Ackerman
ASOR President
OTHER WAYS TO DONATE
| Donate By Phone | Donate By Mail | Make A Pledge (Donate Later) |
|---|---|---|
| Call ASOR: 703–789–9229 |
ASOR James Strange Center 209 Commerce Street Alexandria, VA 22314 |
E-mail ASOR |
