Your support is crucial to our success. We depend on the generosity of members and friends for the essential support needed to care for collections and share them with the world in many and varied ways.
A NUMBER OF WAYS TO INVEST IN ASM
2026-27 Fundraising Priorities
Perhaps one of our current fundraising priorities will inspire you to invest in us even more.
Priority #1: A Challenge for our World-Class Southwest Textile Collection
The vision is a secure, spacious, and dynamic environment that will make ASM’s Southwest Textile Collection more readily and safely accessible to students, curators, researchers, members of descendant communities, artists, collectors, and the general public. Funds raised between now and the end of 2027 will be matched in any amount up to $250,000 through a generous challenge grant. Learn more. Donate now.
Priority #2: The Clara Lee Tanner Endowed Professorship
This fund ensures a faculty position shared by the Arizona State Museum and the UA School of Anthropology (SoA). Headquartered at ASM with a research lab, the incumbent curator teaches through SoA, using ASM’s collections, and conducts research and publishes on the material culture of the Indigenous peoples of the U.S. Southwest and northwest Mexico. To date, the principal stands at about $1.6M in cash and pledges. The goal is $3M. Annual payouts cover salary and, if possible, some operational expenses. Both will be increasing in the coming years. In order to keep pace, this fund needs significant support. Donate now.
Priority #3: Endowment Fund for the Computerized Collections Information System (CCIS)
Curators and database managers have been working for years to migrate the content that will be available worldwide via an interactive website—information on some three million items. It costs about $20,000 a year for user licenses, web hosting fees, security, maintenance, and to continually add data. Contributions to the CCIS endowment fund will endure forever in the principal and help us maintain this important public service in perpetuity. Donate now.
Priority #4: Off-campus Archaeological Curation and Research Facility
A high priority is an off-campus curation and research facility in Tucson. ASM is out of space. Nothing more can be done in its two existing buildings. University of Arizona administration is exploring options. Once built or established, about $1M will be needed to outfit the space with computers, processing equipment, and office furniture. Donate now.
Priority #5: Additional Endowment Funds
An investment in any one of ASM's endowment funds will endure forever and help strengthen ASM's financial foundation now and into the future. Donate now by clicking on any one of the links.
- Advancement Endowment. This fund supports ASM's institutional efforts to communicate effectively with the public.
- Conservation Laboratory Endowment. This fund supports the operations, research, and teaching of the lab.
- Exhibits Endowment. This fund strengthens ASM's ability to develop and share exhibits now and into the future.
- Friends of the ASM Collections Endowment for Ethnological Collections. This fund allows curators to make purchases that enhance and preserve ASM's ethnological collections.
- Library and Archives Endowment. This fund helps ensure that papers archived at ASM can be processed, indexed, and made accessible to the public in a timely manner.
- Promontory Endowment. This fund supports textile-related research, curation, and educational programs focused on Arizona State Museum’s collections of blankets, garments, rugs, tapestries, and other handmade fabrics created by Indigenous artists and other makers.
- Research Endowment. This fund supports ASM's research and publicaton efforts.
- Stanley J. Olsen Laboratory of Zooarchaeology Endowment. This fund supports the operations, research, and teaching of the lab.
- Suzanne K. Fish Graduate Research Endowment. This fund supports graduate students conducting collections-based research at ASM.
Priority Area #6: Planned Gifts
There are a number of ways to plan a significant gift and enjoy tax benefits at the same time:
- Stocks
- Life Insurance
- Charitable Gift Annuities
- Will or Trust
The Gift Planning Office at the University of Arizona Foundation can give guidance on the ways you can support ASM while protecting your assets, providing lasting support for your family, and guaranteeing income for life. They would be delighted to work with you and your advisors in arranging the planned gift that best suits your objectives.
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For more information or to send your check, payable to "UA Foundation/ASM," contact:
Darlene F. Lizarraga
Office of Marketing and Development
Arizona State Museum
PO Box 210026
Tucson, AZ 85721-0026
dfl@arizona.edu or 520-626-8381