Ways to Give

We appreciate your interest in becoming a major supporter of Couse-Sharp Historic Site. Below is more information on the many ways you can help us.

The Couse Foundation, which owns and operates Couse-Sharp Historic Site, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and gifts to it are deductible for income tax purposes in accordance with Section 170 of the Code. Our TIN is 85-0479005. Find our GuideStar/Candid information here.

For methods of giving, see below. For a menu of program support options, please click here. To learn more about our Estate Art Program, click here.

GIFTS OF CASH
Donors may receive tax benefits for cash gifts if they itemize deductions. Gifts can be made by check, credit card, or wire or ACH transfer. We are happy to discuss the most convenient transfer method with you.

TRIBUTE GIVING   
Tribute gifts, given in the name of a loved one or close friend, are unique expressions of thoughtfulness. An honor gift recognizes a person on a special occasion, such as a birthday, wedding or anniversary, or "just because." A memorial gift offers a meaningful way to pay lasting tribute to the memory of a loved one or friend. Such gifts are recognized in our newsletters.

SECURITIES
Appreciated stocks, bonds, and other marketable securities are an easy way to support the 
causes important to you in a tax-advantaged manner and at a lower out-of-pocket cost to you. If you wish to make such a gift, please contact us for transfer instructions.

LEGACY GIFTS
    We are actively seeking to build our endowment fund. The principal of your gift is invested and is intended to grow over time. Distributions from the endowment are made annually based on the organization's policy to provide a predictable revenue stream.  
    You can give to the endowment through using almost any type of asset - cash, securities, real estate or other property that can be liquidated. Bequests and other future gifts can provide estate and gift tax benefits.
   Although we encourage unrestricted endowment gifts, you can also designate a significant fund to support in perpetuity a specific purpose that is important to you, or honor or memorialize a friend or loved one.
   If you are thinking about contributing to our endowment or other planned giving, we encourage you and/or your financial advisor to contact us and our board's Development Committee will be pleased to discuss options with you.

TAOS SOCIETY OF PATRONS
The purpose of the Taos Society of Patrons is to recognize and encourage committed giving to the Couse-Sharp Historic Site. Patrons’ support is at the heart of our ability to sustain CSHS’s mission and expand its impact. Join us today to experience the power of your philanthropic leadership at work! TSP members join at one of five giving circles, ranging from $20,000+ to $1,000, with members of each tier receiving specific benefits. You can review and download more details here.

Please contact us if you are interested in discussing membership in the Society of Patrons.

Menu of Support Opportunities
Couse-Sharp Historic Site
August 2024

Sustainability

• General donation to programs

Unrestricted gifts are the lifeblood of our organization, so that we may direct funding where the need is greatest. You can give any amount, or choose to join our Taos Society of Patrons tiered giving.

• Endowment building

A seven-figure challenge grant is awaiting a generous match, but any substantial contribution toward our endowment, or a multi-year commitment to a quasi-endowment, would be tremendous.

• Personnel

We welcome endowments, quasi-endowments, and single-year commitments for salary support. Permanent and temporary naming rights opportunities for staff titles are available. Currently our staff includes seven permanent employees with an annualized payroll including taxes and benefits of approximately $649,000.

Exhibitions

• Temporary

Each temporary exhibition we mount (usually 4 per year) costs between $5,000 and $20,000. We welcome donations and sponsorships to defray costs such as art shipping and loan fees, exhibit furnishings and hardware, catalogs and gallery guides, associated programming, and promotion.

• Permanent

We continue to build capacity and enhance our permanent exhibitions of the work of J. H. Sharp, E. I. Couse, Kibbey Couse, and a variety of known and formerly known artists who made the beadwork, pottery, santos, furniture and other items in our collections.
A prominent project is the restoration and protection of the Couse Mobile Machine Shop affectionately known as Rosie. We need $2,500 to close out the protective shed project; the truck’s preservation and partial restoration are ongoing needs for funding.

Research and Scholarship

• Lunder Research Center Programs

The LRC is exciting, unique, and growing. More service to the research community and the wider public requires more funding. Ongoing needs include honoraria and stipends for advisors and visiting scholars, prizes for contemporary arts awards, database subscriptions, digitization costs, supplies to process and store archival materials and objects. The LRC budget (not including salaries and overhead) is currently about $33,000 annually.

• Publications

We would love to continue our book series called The Record on our rich collections and support other scholarly publications related to our purpose. At present, we do not have funding for writing, editing, design, printing, and distribution. We have multiple books in planning stages and would love to discuss underwriting one or more. Depending on the type, such a book could cost $40,000 to $150,000.
A time-sensitive project is Virginia Couse Leavitt’s authoritative biography of her grandfather, E. I. Couse. There are less than 100 copies of the first printing left, and the reprint needs to occur before image reproduction permissions expire. Current estimate for the reprint is $36,000.
 
LRC Finish Line
Over the past few years, CSHS has raised more than $3 million to purchase and renovate The Lunder Research Center into a state-of-the-art museum facility that also houses most of our offices. We have launched the “Finish Line” campaign to close out our building mortgage. There is about $230,000 outstanding after deducting current pledges.

• Virtual Shares

By pledging a “$100,000 full share” or a “$50,000 half share” you can help us retire our debt!

• Naming opportunities

The following naming opportunities in and around the LRC are still available, either in combination with a Finish Line share or on their own:
Archivists’ Suite     $100,000
Rear Foyer/Break Room    $50,000
Sharp Garden Gate at Kit Carson Rd   $50,000
J H. Sharp’s Well    $25,000
Bench & Flowerbed at Kit Carson Rd  $25,000
Sharp’s Bedroom Window   $10,000
Wheelchair Elevator in Foyer   $10,000
Azzari Library Bookshelves   $5,000 per stack

Technology
Besides the items that are part of the LRC budget, CSHS has extensive information technology needs: network infrastructure, servers, storage, cameras and security systems, personal computers, printers, internet access, software, management fees, repairs, etc.

• Software and hardware support

Current basic operational needs in this arena cost about $18,000 per year, and that does not account for purchase of updated or additional hardware to help our employees effectively fulfill our mission and to protect the site from intruders.

Historic Buildings
We have approximately 10,000 square feet of historic adobe and masonry building and walls on our 2+ acre site, built at various times from 1830 to 1930. Maintenance, repair, and needed updates to an aging complex are costly endeavors.

• Brick-and-Mortar Preservation Projects

Currently, we have documented about $225,000 in such projects needed to be accomplished in the next two years. The largest single project is a new roof for the Couse Home and Studio complex including the Luna Chapel, estimated at more than $100,000.
We also need to raise funds to stabilize the Couse Studio basement, for which we have been awarded a $12,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation on a project that may cost upwards of $60,000.

Heritage Gardens and Landscaping

• Keeping the Gardens Flourishing

To maintain and irrigate the spectacular Virginia Walker Couse Heritage Garden and the beautifully restored Sharp Gardens costs more than $25,000 per year. Needed enhancements such as retaining walls total another $25,000.

• Landscape Plan Phases

We have also accomplished Phase 1 expansion in our site Landscape Plan; Phases 2 and 3 of the plan are estimated to cost about $109,000 total.

Estate Art Program

The Couse Foundation has established a program to assist donors with the disposition of artwork from their collections and estates while also benefiting the long-term financial stability of Couse-Sharp Historic Site and its programs, including The Lunder Research Center.

Many of our supporters with significant art collections have said they would appreciate a third party that can coordinate the sale of their artwork during their lifetimes or upon their passing; a personal agent that is trustworthy and objective. Some are reluctant to invite dealers and gallery representatives into their homes. Most want to “do well and do good.” They enjoy seeing appropriate proceeds resulting from the sale of their collections and are committed to donating all or part of those proceeds to an arts nonprofit organization with a purpose they support.

We have the capacity and expertise to handle planning for art collectors who wish to make gifts of one or a few works up through entire significant estates. We can recommend tools to organize and catalog collections, refer to knowledgeable licensed appraisers, coordinate with a preferred fine art shipping company with climate-controlled storage facilities across the country, and maintain any desired level of discretion and involvement for donors. We coordinate with donors’ legal, financial, and other advisors to accomplish their personal wishes.

We work with major national auction houses, including Christies, Sotheby’s, Hindman, Heritage, Freeman’s, Santa Fe, and Scottsdale, and have negotiated a 0% seller’s commission with all of them. This assures that 100% of the hammer price supports The Couse Foundation.

For more information, we invite you to view or download our program brochure. To discuss the Estate Art Program or other planning considerations for your art collection, please contact us. We look forward to working with you.