ISHA Kicks Off 2020 Fundraising Campaign

This month ISHA launches its annual year-end fundraising campaign. Like any nonprofit, we’ll send out notices to our longtime supporters and new members alike, asking for holiday-season gifts—tax-deductible in the United States—to defray the costs of publishing our bimonthly Skiing History magazine, our website skiinghistory.org, the annual ISHA Awards, and outreach programs to recruit new members.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been a difficult year for most nonprofits and for the donors who support them. Many individuals and businesses who normally contribute to favorite causes faced straitened times beginning in March. ISHA has been more fortunate than most—over the years our loyal members have provided sufficient support, so we went into the new recession with enough cash on hand to defray operational costs through this year. We experienced interruptions in several important revenue streams. We were forced to cancel our Skiing History Week events, including the annual ISHA Awards banquet, and some of our corporate sponsors, who lost their spring-skiing revenue, have had to cut back support until business picks up again.

ISHA ran a balanced budget in 2019, thanks to individual donors (who provided 50.7 percent of ISHA revenue with gifts over and above their membership dues), and some 60 corporate sponsors who provided 21.2 percent of revenue (membership dues accounted for 19.4 percent of revenue).

We will certainly not be able to operate in the black this year, and have already dipped into reserves held in investment accounts. In a typical year about 65 percent of individual donations come to us in November and December. This year, we ask that whatever you are able to give, you give early. When gifts come in during October rather than in late December, we are more easily able to run on operational revenue.  

ISHA Awards Banquet to be held at Snowmass, April 8, 2021

We are pushing ahead with plans to collaborate once again with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame to stage a series of events we call Skiing History Week. Dates this year will be April 7 to 11, at Snowmass, Colorado. ISHA plans a welcoming cocktail party and John Fry Memorial Lecture series on Wednesday, April 7, with our Awards Banquet on April 8. The Hall of Fame has scheduled its annual Induction Banquet for Saturday, April 10. Please mark your calendar and help us celebrate what we hope will mark the resumption of normal life in North American skiing.

Recruiting

ISHA would like to organize a network of local Skiing History Clubs across the country. We envision each club as a group of friends who meet occasionally for skiing and good talk about the sport and its traditions. We encourage lunches, cocktails, dinners, lectures, tall tales and outright lying (the older we get, the better we were). Longtime ISHA members, and some of our museum and retail partners, are eager to help organize events and venues. If you’d like to help build a local group, please email me. seth@skiinghistory.org.

We lost our long-time leader John Fry in January, at age 90. Three other ISHA board members have resigned this year due to health issues or time commitments elsewhere. We are down to 17 active board members, from a full complement of 23 (minimum is nine). ISHA depends critically on the committee work performed by its board of directors. If you have skills in finance, marketing, sales, communications, event planning or publishing, and would like to contribute time and expertise to ISHA’s success, please email me: seth@skiinghistory.org. 

New tax benefit for charitable donations

U.S. taxpayers should be aware of a new federal law providing tax benefits when you support the causes you care about, including ISHA. Under the CARES Act, all taxpayers are eligible to deduct up to $300 of charitable giving ($600 for a married couple filing jointly), whether you itemize deductions or take the standard deduction. This is $300 you won’t have to pay taxes on, even if you don’t itemize. For those who do itemize deductions, the new law allows for cash contributions to qualified charities such as ISHA to be deducted up to 100 percent of your adjusted gross income for the 2020 calendar year.

And, if your employer matches charitable contributions, your gift to ISHA could make an even bigger impact!

For our Canadian members, friends and donors, taxation advantages may be available, and we urge you to consult with your personal tax advisors in that regard.  You may also wish to refer to the following Canadian Government website: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving/giving-charity-information-donors.html.