Donate

As many of our supporters already know, in addition to our normal workings as the largest independent LGBT archive in the world, we would like to reach out and ask you to support us financially so that we can continue to improve and expand our on-going work and community outreach. As a small charity that receives no on-going government funding, we rely on you, the members and allies of Canada's LGBT communities to help keep our stories alive. So please, if you're able, click on the red "Donate Now" button located above and make a fully tax deductable donation on your credit card. You will immediately receive a letter of thanks along with your tax receipt and our sincere gratitude for your generosity.

Thank you for your support,
Robert Windrum, President, Board of Directors, CLGA

Our most dependable source of funding is people like you: individuals who believe in our organization.

A typical funding year looks like this:

10% events; 70% individual giving; 10% sponsorship; 10% bequests.

Donating Material

The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives grows through donations of material from people like you.

Over the years, hundreds of people have given us everything from the records of organizations they were involved with, to their own personal diaries and correspondence, to photos they took of their lovers and friends. We preserve all of it, as evidence of our history. The life you're living, right now, can offer a legacy to the future.

Over time, we'll use this page to highlight particular kinds of material we're especially interested in collecting. Right now -- as noted on our pages about Photographs and Moving images -- we're looking for visual evidence of daily life and community events: home videos, snapshots, etc. You may also have other things that could be of lasting historical value.

Some of those things may be obvious to you, like books or magazines. But others things you may think of as unimportant could be even more valuable. We're most interested in material that is unique -- that only you might have.

For instance: someone writing a book may think of the finished product -- the book itself -- as the most important evidence of their work. But we would be just as interested in all the material that led to the book: developmental notes, correspondence, memos, research lists, bibliographies, early drafts, random jottings. A book may be silent about how it came to be. But all this background material -- maybe seen as junk once the work is done -- can tell its life story.

Course notes, lectures, letters, datebooks, journals, diaries, scrapbooks, photo albums, theatre tickets, playbills, Pride Day guides, party invitations -- even your favourite party dress! -- all these tell your story. And it's our stories we want to preserve.

So, if you have things you're willing to part with -- now or in the future -- don't toss them out! Get in touch with us instead. We can discuss details. Among them:

• The terms of your donation: This includes issues of legal ownership or copyright; disposition of items (particularly books and magazines) that may be duplicates of our existing holdings; confidentiality of certain materials; or limits on public access.

  You may be happy to preserve your story for posterity -- but may not want all the details, about yourself or other people in your life, made available right away. We will work out with you any restrictions necessary to respect your own privacy, or that of others, until a date on which you agree your records can be opened for access in the future.
   

• Information about what you donate: Behind many items -- especially artifacts -- there may be stories that aren't apparent from the thing itself. It is important to us that material be given context, helping clarify its particular historical meaning. We might want to work with you on notes or guides about your donation, to provide that context for the future.
   
• The value of your donation: Some materials have financial -- not just historical -- value. We can tap professional expertise, both internal and external, to evaluate the monetary worth of items you donate. As a registered charity, we can issue receipts not only for cash donations but also for the value of donated material, allowing you a deduction on your income tax (within Canada only). In 1995 we issued tax receipts for $50,000 worth of donated items.
   

If you would like to discuss donating material, please feel free to get in touch with us.

Regarding tax receipts for non-financial donations, we appreciate the continuing support of all of our donors, including those who donate their papers, books, periodicals and other materials. Please note, however, that although we try to value all donations as quickly as possible, due to the high volume of yearend materials, and because of the nature of the valuation process, we cannot guarantee timely tax receipts for materials received after September 1st of any year.