Greetings from the AGO National Council and Headquarters staff. We just returned from a marvelous AGO National Convention in Washington, D.C., and hope to have seen you there, along with 2,100 of our friends and colleagues, who filled the convention to capacity.
You will be pleased to know that our Pipe Organ Encounters were also filled to capacity this summer. Interest in the organ is alive and well, especially among our youth. But each year, we have to work hard to find the funding to make educational programs like this possible.
None of the Guild’s educational programs—like Pipe Organ Encounters for teens and adults—could exist without the generous contributions made by our members and friends each year. Tax-deductible contributions to the AGO help us help others through educational programs and outreach, subsidized dues for students and senior citizens, professional certification opportunities for all members, and advocacy for healthy working relationships, competitive wages, and appropriate benefits for all those called to be sacred musicians, educators, and performers.
We hope your commitment to the work and mission of the AGO ranks high on your list of giving priorities this year and always. As dedicated members of the organ and choral music profession, we must work together to ensure the financial stability of our Guild so that it can continue to grow and prosper.
Would you please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the AGO before the end of our fiscal year on August 31?
Your contribution to the Annual Fund will go to work immediately by supporting Guild operations and educational programs on the national level.
Your contribution to the Endowment Fund will be held in perpetuity; annual earnings from the Endowment Fund support operations and educational programs, just as the Annual Fund does.
Your contribution to the New Organist Fund will be used to support Pipe Organ Encounters and scholarship programs for POE students.
Your contribution to the Nita Akin Fund will be used to support the operations of the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance.
Your contribution to the S. Lewis Elmer Fund will be used to support prize awards for the most successful candidates in our professional certification program.
If you have already made your 2009–2010 contribution to the AGO, thank you! If you have not, please take a moment now to contribute online or send your contribution using the envelope bound into the June issue of THE AMERICAN ORGANIST Magazine.
Gifts in all amounts are needed and welcomed; no gift is too small! All contributions to the AGO are 100% tax deductible to the fullest extent provided by law.
Thank you for your support of the American Guild of Organists. On behalf of all the volunteer leaders of the Guild, including the four national officers, four national councillors, nine regional councillors, 52 district conveners, and more than 300 chapter deans, we extend all best wishes for the remaining days of summer ahead.
Sincerely yours,
Eileen Guenther, DMA
President
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James E. Thomashower, CAE
Executive Director
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P.S. If you are unable to make a gift at this time, please consider making a deferred gift through our Clarence Dickinson Society for Planned Giving. For further information, please contact AGO Director of Development and Communications F. Anthony Thurman at 212-870-2311 (ext. 4308) or e-mail
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.
P.P.S. You might also wish to consider demonstrating your support for the AGO by becoming a Lifetime Member. Detailed information is available online or by contacting AGO Membership Coordinator Justin Storms at
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or 212-870-2311 (ext. 4304).
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