Why should I give?
SAM has been an anchor for scholars, librarians, and performing musicians in a turbulent cultural landscape for fifty years. Your gift will contribute to this stability for the next fifty and beyond.
Through a half-century of shared stewardship, SAM has become the leading organization helping us reach new understandings of music in our shared past. Your gift will enable SAM to continue building the lasting changes you want to see in the world.
SAM is defined by warmth, a community-centered approach, and intergenerational joy. We grow and innovate by intentionally welcoming diverse life experiences and professional backgrounds. Your gift will ensure that the global bridges between the past, present, and future of American music scholarship and practice remain unbroken.
Your support of the Century Campaign ensures that the human story of American music remains loud, clear, and inclusive. Join us in sustaining the foundation of this musical home.
What impact will my gift have?
Investment in SAM is an investment in the stewardship of American culture. By supporting our operations and our people, you ensure that the study of American music remains a legitimate, funded, and celebrated pursuit for the next fifty years.
Simultaneously, our work acts as a vital restorative for our communities, countering the thinning effects of the digital age by reviving our connection to deep history and critical inquiry. [not just scholars, but other communities too].
Your gift will help SAM administer funds and fellowships more efficiently, which support the next generation of scholars and scholarship.
To achieve SAM’s impact for another half-century, we must sustain the infrastructure that makes our work possible through three key priorities:
- Equity for Labor: We recognize the parallels between the contingent labor of our scholars and the labor required to run our Society. Supporting SAM means providing fair, sustainable support for the staff and administrators who anchor our advocacy.
- A Foundation for Innovation: While our fellowship funds are vital, they are restricted. We must regather unrestricted resources to support the digital infrastructure, webmasters, and conference organizers who turn our vision into reality.
- Public Impact: We provide the scholarly platform and fellowship funding that allows researchers to step into local archives, preserving materials that would otherwise be lost and bringing those stories into cities and classrooms.
How do I make a gift?
Gifts are tax-deductible
You can give:
- Online via credit card
- Make a secure one-time or recurring gift by credit card
- Zelle (ID: Society-for-American-Music)
- Paypal (@SocietyAmericanMusic)
- Checks
- Checks may be made payable to Society for American Music and mailed to SAM’s Treasurer:
P.O. Box 20146, Louisville, KY 40250
SAM Gift Policy
Estate Gift and Planning Form
A message from Deane Root, Chair of the SAM Development Committee
I am so honored and excited to serve SAM—the society that taught me so much about being a scholar. – President-elect, Trudi Wright
Why SAM?
