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For over thirty years the Center has pursued its essential mission of supporting the humanities—by providing residential fellowships to leading scholars, strengthening humanities teaching through professional development and curricular enrichment, and nourishing public appreciation for the liberal arts. The Center is committed not only to providing opportunities for individual research, but also to exploring the potential for innovative thinking that is implicit in the concept of a research institute.

As it looks ahead, the Center seeks to solidify its position as the leading independent research institute for the humanities in the world. Specifically, it seeks:

• to secure the quality and independence of the fellowship program by increasing the number of endowed fellowships (from 25 to 29), and ensuring that all fellowships are funded at competitive levels;
• to complete its library of American culture and history resources for high school teachers and double the size of its of online seminar program (to 50 sessions/year, for 1500 teachers with up to 400,000 students);
• to be increasingly recognized by the academic community and by the general public as a responsible, imaginative, and effective advocate for the humanities though strategic outreach programs.

• $8 million to endow four fellowships and to ensure the competitive strength of the fellowship program
• $3 million to augment the endowment of the education programs and encourage innovation in professional development for teachers
• $550,000 to provide funding for outreach activities and special programs
• $1.45 million to provide unrestricted, immediate support for day-to-day operations

Carl H. Pforzheimer III is co-chair of The Campaign for the National Humanities Center and chairman emeritus of the Center’s board of trustees. A trustee of the Center since 1996, Pforzheimer is manager of Carl H. Pforzheimer & Co. LLC and of CHIPCO Asset management LLC in New York, and president of the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation, whose interests include advancing education, the arts, citizen participation, and libraries. The Center is the recipient of a grant establishing the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellowship, awarded annually to an outstanding scholar selected from a variety of humanities disciplines. In addition to serving as a trustee of the National Humanities Center and the New York Public Library, he is also chairman emeritus of Pace University. In 2002, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He continues to be heavily involved with programs at Harvard, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the New York Public Library that involve scholarly research.

Patricia R. Morton is co-chair of The Campaign for the National Humanities Center and serves on the Center’s board of trustees as chairman of its investment committee. Morton is founder and CEO of PRM Advisors in Charlotte, a member of the board of directors of Franklin Street Partners in Chapel Hill, and was previously a managing director at Deutsche Bank/Alex Brown. Prior to that, Patty spent 16 years with JP Morgan, where she worked in various capacities in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London. In addition to the National Humanities Center, she is a member of the board of directors for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, NC; a trustee of Johnson C. Smith University; and is a member of the national advisory boards for Carolina Performing Arts and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

Geoffrey Galt Harpham is president and director of the National Humanities Center.  He was trained as a literary scholar, but his work has encompassed a wide range of topics and fields.  Among his many books are On the Grotesque: Strategies of Contradiction in Art and Literature (1982); Shadows of Ethics: Criticism and the Just Society (1999); and Language Alone: The Critical Fetish of Modernity (2002). His longstanding scholarly interests include the role of ethics in literary study, the place of language in intellectual history, and the work of Joseph Conrad.  He has collaborated with M. H. Abrams on A Glossary of Literary Terms, now in its tenth edition. In recent years, he has become a prominent historian of and advocate for the humanities and his most recent book, The Humanities and the Dream of America, was published in 2011. He has received fellowships from the J. S. Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Alan Brinkley is chairman of the board of trustees of the National Humanities Center and the Allan Nevins Professor of History at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1991. He served as University Provost from 2003 to 2009 and as chair of the Department of History from 2000 to 2003. In 1998-99, he was the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University. A leading scholar of American history, his published works include Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (1982), which won the 1983 National Book Award; The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War (1995); Liberalism and Its Discontents (1998); Franklin Delano Roosevelt (2009); The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century (2010); and two American history textbooks: American History: A Survey (1982 and subsequent editions), and The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People (1992 and subsequent editions). In addition to his leadership at the Center, Brinkley is chair of the board of trustees of the Century Foundation and a trustee of Oxford University Press.  He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In recent years the Center has come to rely more on its endowment (from 42% of its operating budget in 2001 to 58% in 2010) as support available from foundations and government sources for the humanities has decreased. Building the Center’s endowment will help insure the future of the fellowship, education, and outreach programs.

Funding Sources

2000-01	2009-10

The Campaign’s biggest single objective is to raise $8 million for new fellowships. This priority reflects the Center’s long-standing, fundamental commitment to providing support for the work of the most outstanding scholars working in the humanities from across the United States and other nations

Campaign resources for fellowships are specifically targeted to create four (4) new endowed fellowships—two for senior fellows, two for mid-career fellows. In recent years, support for scholarly research and writing has been on the decline making NHC fellowships even more highly cherished.

Further, additional funds for fellowship will allow the Center to provide stipends on par with sister institutions, such as the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Finally, endowment funds for fellowship help not only to provide stipends for scholars but the support services that make them productive: well-equipped studies; a library system that puts millions of physical and digital books and documents at Fellows’ fingertips; expert manuscript preparation and editorial services; and first class IT support.

The Center’s education programs have been lauded by seminar participants, online users, and contributing scholars alike for their quality and depth of content. The Center’s toolbox library and TeacherServe® provide, at no cost, rich online resources for classroom instruction. They also provide content for the Center’s online professional development seminars, which spark new instructional approaches and increase teachers’ knowledge of American history, literature, and culture.

The content-rich teacher professional development the Center offers is rare.  Enhancing the education programs endowment will guarantee that the Center will be able to make it available year after year.  It will also enable the Center to update its online resources and further expand the reach of its online seminars, which currently accommodate nearly 700 teachers (and through them reach approximately 135,000 students) a year.

The Center's outreach efforts engage a broad audience with leading edge scholarship and intellectual debates in the humanities.  In recent years, the Center has welcomed luminaries like biologist E.O. Wilson, neurologist Oliver Sacks, journalist Michael Pollan, and writers A. S. Byatt and Wole Soyinka among others. The Center also hosts conferences, symposia, and monthly lectures dealing with topics that extend from the work of its Fellows and of keen intellectual interest, both within academic circles and among the wider public. By fostering greater access to scholars and their work, the Center encourages deeper appreciation for the humanities’ contributions and perspectives to a host of vital topics. In addition, the Center stages exhibitions of local artists’ works that are free of charge and open to the public.

The work of those at the Center, now and in the future, depends on donors from all walks of life—trustees, Fellows, foundations, corporations and friends. To date, generous donors and foundations have come together to make significant gifts that recognize and support the Center’s integral place in nurturing humanities scholarship. To achieve our goals, many more gifts of all sizes will be essential.

The Campaign for the National Humanities Center began in the fall of 2010 and will conclude in 2014.

As of June 1, 2011, the Center has raised more than $9 million in gifts and pledges from trustees, former Fellows, and foundations.

Outright gifts: The most common and easiest way to make a gift to the Center is by check or credit card. These gifts can be one-time gifts or gifts made on a recurring basis. They can be designated for specific uses or left unrestricted.

Securities/stocks: A gift of appreciated securities might provide you with greater tax advantages than a gift of cash. You can deduct the current fair market value as a charitable gift and avoid any capital gains tax on the appreciation.

Planned gifts:  Individuals may also include the Center in their estate plans. These deferred, or "planned," gifts include bequests by will, IRA or retirement plan, gift annuity, trust arrangement, insurance policy and other means, and they can be directed toward a specific fellowship or program.

Matching gifts:  Many employers (and former employers, for retirees) match the charitable gifts of their employees. If your company does match gifts, please obtain, complete and submit a matching gift form (or fill one out online, if that option is offered) in order to multiply the value of your gift!

Property:  Since gifts of property can provide tax deductions and may help avoid additional taxes, they are a good choice for some people. These gifts include tangible personal property, real personal property, intellectual property, and closely held company stock. These gift vehicles may require special consideration.

If you have questions about any of these giving options, please contact Carol Vorhaus, Director of Development at (919) 549-0661 (x101) or by e-mail, cvorhaus@nationalhumanitiescenter.org.

You can pledge to make a gift over a period of three to five years.  Your pledge can be to make a one-time gift at some point in the future or to make installment gifts over time. Pledges are accepted toward specific campaign priorities as well as to the Annual Fund. To make a pledge, use our online recurring gift pledge form.

Yes.  To give a gift online, simply visit the Center’s website and complete a secure online giving form.

Unrestricted gifts are vital to the well-being of the Center because they allow resources to be directed to where they are needed immediately or where future opportunities are greatest.

Contact the National Humanities Center’s Development Office staff. Staff members will be happy to assist you with any of your questions about the campaign or your gift. The Development Office can be reached at (919) 549-0661 (x101). You may also contact Carol Vorhaus, Director of Development, directly at (919) 406-0101 or by e-mail, cvorhaus@nationalhumanitiescenter.org.