In this week’s update: Giving Tuesday opportunities, Heritage Christmas, news coverage, and more!
In our weekly update, keep up to date on what staff and volunteers at the Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum are working on to lift up the history of Lindsborg and the surrounding region. This weekly update both looks back at what happened last week and looks ahead at what’s coming.
For November 20-26, 2023:
- Tomorrow – Tuesday, November 28, is traditionally “Giving Tuesday,” and there’s three great opportunities happening right now for you to show generosity in supporting the Lindsborg museum!
- First, the “second-chance” match campaign through the Smoky Valley Community Foundation has been EXTENDED to end on Giving Tuesday on November 28! So, right now your generosity with any new donations right now are DOUBLED (maximum per organization is $2,500). We’ve had several donations taking us past the halfway mark, but there’s still plenty of room to take advantage of this great opportunity.
Help us to not leave this “free” money on the table with your gift today! There’s three easy and convenient ways to give:1) Leave a check at the Bank of Tescott Night Deposit slot (on Lindsborg Main Street). All checks should be written to SVCF and note “Lindsborg Old Mill Museum” in the memo field.2) Mail a check to SVCF P.O. Box 84, Lindsborg, KS 67456, postmarked by November 28.3) Give a donation online at https://bit.ly/MatchFall2023 by November 28.
- We have a year-end $50,000 Museum Membership Match Challenge! Right now anyone who buys a 2024 Lindsborg Museum membership will also secure a bonus to the museum worth three times the amount of the membership. It’s a perfect way to make donation dollars stretch farther this holiday season. With a generous challenge pledge of $50,000 from Julie-Ann Neywick – longtime museum supporter and volunteer – she will triple match any individual, family, and business memberships purchased between now and 5 p.m. Central Time on December 31.
The terms of the challenge mean that a $40 individual membership brings the museum another $120, a $60 family membership secures another $180, and getting a $125 business membership (which also grants membership benefits for up to 10 employees) will impressively secure an additional $375!
So far, there has been $2,905 from memberships, and 17% of the $50,000 Match Challenge has been secured!
To become a member today, visit www.oldmillmuseum.org/members to purchase online or send a check to PO Box 94, Lindsborg, KS 67456 (including with the check the level of membership being purchased, email address, mailing address, full name, phone number, and indicating whether the museum’s biannual newsletter should be sent by email, mail, or both). Memberships can also be purchased with a credit or debit card over the phone by calling 785-227-3595 or in person at the museum at 120 E. Mill St., Lindsborg, Kansas, during museum hours of 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Saturday.
Learn more about the match challenge HERE.
- We also have officially kicked off our Endowment Campaign 2025 to add $1 million to our endowment in supporting our annual operational budget to make sure that not only do we preserve these historical treasures, but we can also “keep the lights on.” Read more on the flyer and giving form below, or visit to www.oldmillmuseum.org/donations to learn more!
- If you’re a museum member, newsletters have been printed and went out to you in the mail last weekend! Watch your mailboxes for it to arrive soon!
- We are inviting everyone to our annual Heritage Christmas event, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 9! Come to visit with Santa, enjoy music in the Swedish Pavilion, make decorated cookies and holiday crafts, tour the Old Mill, and – NEW! – join up for the Mayor’s Christmas Kaffe in the Train Depot! Admission is by-donation, with a recommended donation of $5 per person and a $4,000 goal for the event.
- We’ve had some great media coverage in the last week. A story about our Kansas Museums Association technology award made the front page of the Lindsborg News-Record, and a story about the current $20,000 Match Challenge appeared on WIBW (although it should be noted that the headline is inaccurate. Any purchased memberships secure a triple match, rather than just being doubled.)