Since its beginnings in 1973, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives has depended on the energy, commitment, and generosity of many people. Hundreds have contributed time and skills, valuable archival materials -- and money. What they had was a desire to preserve our history for the future -- and ways to put that desire to work.
We'll bet that you, too, are interested in our history. You may have expertise that can help us preserve it, and some time to put your abilities to work. You may have evidence of that history itself -- in personal records, keepsakes and memorabilia that tell stories from your life and the lives of those around you. And you may have the means to offer financial support to help keep those stories alive for posterity.
Listed below are some ways that you can help: monetary donations, planned giving, volunteering, becoming a member, or donating material. For more information on any of them, please feel free to contact us.
The Archives depends on financial support from people like you. More than 40 percent of our annual budget in recent years (and much more in earlier years) has been covered by one-time and annual contributions from individuals.
One-time donations are glady received and easy to make:
By definition, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives is meant to last a very long time, making our stories available far into the future. Planned giving lets us think beyond day-to-day and month-to-month needs. It contributes to a secure future for the organization, its works -- and its valuable record of history.
Planned giving can be simply a matter of pledging ongoing donations. But it can also involve deferred gifts such as bequests, life insurance policies, charitable remainder trusts, and similar arrangements that let you make a commitment now that will benefit the Archives in the future.
Deferred gifts can also benefit you as a donor. You can offset taxes through a gift credit; receive income that is all or partially tax-exempt; reduce probable fees; and reduce or eliminate capital gains tax.
We would be glad to send you more information on specific plans and their benefits. Please feel free to contact us about planned giving.
Everyone who has ever worked for the Archives has done so as a volunteer -- we've never had any paid staff. Volunteers have offered not just archival and library skills, but expertise in legal issues, management and planning techniques, design of promotional materials and displays, event coordination and fundraising programs. Many have brought extensive personal knowledge of their community and its history over the years. Some have worked on short-term projects -- and others have been involved for decades.
Not everyone working with the Archives is in Toronto. People elsewhere have been instrumental in broadening the geographic scope of our holdings, sending in material that tells the stories of many diverse communities. The advent of e-mail and the Internet opens up even more opportunities for involvement, no matter where you live.
Over time, we'll use this space to note particular projects, events, or tasks -- and the skills, knowledge, and commitment of time we're looking for to help get them done. In the meantime, if you'd like to discuss volunteering please contact us.
Members are the constitutional foundation of the Archives as a community-based organization. They are kept informed of our organizational affairs, attend annual meetings, and elect our Board of Directors.
Anyone committed to the purpose of the Archives and interested in its governance and long-term stability can apply to become a member. We judge that commitment by a person's contribution of volunteer labour, or by financial support (a minimum of $25 per year), or by donation of archivally significant material. For legal reasons, members must be at least 18 years of age. The term of membership is one year -- with, of course, the opportunity to renew annually.
For more information about becoming a member of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, please contact us.
Almost everything we have in the Archives came as donations from individuals and groups. In fact, our defining purpose is to gather and preserve personal and organizational records: without them, we wouldn't be an archives.
You may have all kinds of material -- even things you may not consider important -- that could be a valuable legacy for the future. "Keeping our stories alive" means preserving as many of those stories as we can -- and yours could be one of them. See our page offering more details on the many different things we're interested in collecting, and on how to arrange a donation.