Search Our Site

Giving Societies

Share
Follow Us

Gift Recognition and Leadership Giving Programs

Because the Duke Lemur Center must have escorted/supervised tours only, we do not offer memberships like those available at zoos or museums. However, donors to the Duke Lemur Center benefit in a variety of ways that still enable your gift to be fully tax-deductible.

Recognition levels are based on each donor’s cumulative gifts—including all designated gifts as one total gift—to the Duke Lemur Center between July 1 and June 30, the fiscal year for Duke University and the Duke Lemur Center.

All donors to the Duke Lemur Center contributing $50 or more (Duke students qualify for $25), and donors who opt for monthly payments at any level toward any DLC program, may opt-in and enjoy quarterly e-newsletters for the inside scoop on DLC happenings.


Annual Giving Recognition

Lemur Friend: $250-$999.99

Includes: 

Annual magazine

Advance invitations to special events and other DLC opportunities

One Valentine’s Day video valentine

Lemur Champion Society: $1,000-$4,999.99

Includes LEMUR FRIEND benefits, plus:

20% discount on retail (non-tour ticket) Lemur Landing gift shop purchases

First notice on early invitations to public events at the Duke Lemur Center

SAVA/Madagascar Conservation Programs printed calendar upon request

One complimentary lemur message for every promotion we offer (subject to change: Valentine’s Day is a standing tradition, others may be added)

Opt-in opportunity to receive quarterly electronic updates on one lemur/species currently offered in the Adopt-a-Lemur program. This will not include a snail-mailed welcome packet or the ability to “gift” the information to another person unless your gift is a designated gift to the Adopt a Lemur Program specifically. The animal biography and species information sheet will be emailed versus mailed via USPS. Please email Mary at mary.paisley@duke.edu to opt in.

Invitation to a unique behind-the-scenes visit through the Development Officer and to other DLC events

Director's Society: $5,000 and Up

Includes LEMUR CHAMPION benefits, plus:

Invitation to customized visit with DLC staff and lemurs, and lunch with the Director*

Name on the Donor Wall in the Lemur Landing gift shop and visitor center

*Will be coordinated through the Development Officer and we cannot guarantee the Director’s availability during requested timeframes.

Corporate Friends: $5,000 and Up

Includes: 

Custom discounted education program at Duke Lemur Center

Name on Donor Wall in the Lemur Landing gift shop and visitor center

Up to two complimentary uses of DLC conference room meeting spaces, or one use of our outdoor tent space, as available

Quarterly e-Newsletter for the inside scoop on DLC happenings

Annual magazine

Two-hour visit on-site through Development Officer for up to 20 organizational representatives

Please note: $5,000 and Up donation threshold excludes matching program gifts. 


Honorary Giving Societies

Multi-year and Special Gift Recognition

Golden Crowned Society

Named in recognition of the golden-crowned sifaka, this honorary group includes individuals who have made charitable donations to the Duke Lemur Center for ten consecutive years or more.

Legacy for Lemurs Society

This includes donors and friends who have made:

a planned/legacy gift to the Duke Lemur Center, or
an endowment gift to the Duke Lemur Center.

These donors will be recognized on the Donor Wall and are granted lifetime recognition benefits as Lemur Champion donors (or Director’s Society if annual gift is $5,000 or more).

Circle of Life Society

Honoring lifetime individual giving to the Duke Lemur Center
Includes annual gifts, legacy gifts/bequests, legacy gift commitments, and endowment gifts

The new Circle of Life Society and the recognition of its members on the Duke Lemur Center’s Wall of Thanks in the gift shop will serve as an important new way to say thank you to our most generous and long-term individual donors while also encouraging others to support and continue supporting the Duke Lemur Center.

Members will be listed as one group, alphabetically by last name regardless of their cumulative donation total. Individuals will be recognized among all of the DLC’s most generous supporters. In addition to listing cumulative donations from current donors, the list will also reflect bequests and lifetime gifts from deceased donors. In this way, their support for the DLC will live on through continued recognition and thanks in the years to come.


Support Us

Please consider supporting the Duke Lemur Center through gifts to:

Endowments: Gifts of any amount may be designated for the pooled Duke Lemur Center endowment, or you may consider establishing an endowment with $100,000 or more and make possible a permanent, self-sustaining source of funding for the Duke Lemur Center.

Special projects: A variety of projects and naming opportunities are available. Please visit our Targeted Impact Gifts page to learn more.

Legacy/planned gifts: Include the Duke Lemur Center in your long-term financial or estate plan. You may be surprised at how big of an impact you can have on our work while also helping you to achieve your personal and financial goals. Learn more at Duke University’s Gift Planning website, or visit our Legacy Gifts page.

Duke University reunion gifts and senior class gifts: While the Duke Lemur Center is not an offered designation option through the Duke Annual Fund, gifts to the Duke Lemur Center DO count toward Duke University’s senior class gift and reunion class gift credit. Please consider including us!

Gifts to the Duke Lemur Center are tax deductible. Your tax letter will come from Duke University.


Questions?

Please contact the DLC’s development officer, Mary Paisley, at (919) 401-7252 or mary.paisley@duke.edu.