Membership & Stewardship
Members are stewards, not subscribers.
The point of this program is belonging, not fundraising. We are inviting you to become a steward of the places, people, and stories that make the Maumee River and Lake Erie watershed worth belonging to. The dues are how that gets paid for.
Why membership
Dues are the difference between a plan and a program.
Grant money follows track record, and we do not have one yet. Most regional funders want to see several years of operation and a real budget before they will consider an application. Membership is how a new organization builds both.
It also settles the independence question. An organization funded by its founder is a project. An organization funded by a few hundred neighbors is an institution, and it can say things a project cannot.
Our 501(c)(3) application is still in preparation, so dues and gifts are not currently tax-deductible. If exemption is granted it is normally retroactive to our formation date, and we will write to every member and donor when that happens. Details are on the About page.
Three levels
Monthly, so it is small enough to keep.
Annual is available at the same rate if you would rather do it once. Every level can be cancelled at any time, and nobody chases you if you do.
Friend of the Collective
$5per month
or $60 a year
The entry point, and the one we expect most people to take. It is the price of two coffees a month and it is the number that decides whether this works.
- Early access to publishing news and book announcements
- 10% discount on books and River House purchases
- The member newsletter
- Volunteer opportunities and early event registration
- A Founding Member hat or t-shirt during the launch year
River Steward
$15per month · most common
or $180 a year
For the people who want the work in their hands. A book and a journal every year, and a seat in the rooms where we talk about what comes next.
- Everything in Friend of the Collective
- The annual River Journal
- A signed annual book
- Member-only events
- Early access to special editions
Founders Circle
$25per month
or $300 a year
For the people building this with us. Every book we publish, across all three imprints, plus the conversations that decide which books those are.
- Everything in River Steward
- Every new River Craft Press release
- Every new Black Swamp Press release
- Every new Great Lakes Books release
- Limited first editions when available
- An invitation to the Founders Dinner
- Editorial updates and behind-the-scenes access
Business, family, and classroom memberships are available — write to us. If money is the only thing standing between you and membership, tell us and we will waive it. Volunteers are members.
Join
Become a steward.
Online enrollment opens with our public launch. Until then, tell us which level you want and we will send a payment link or a mailing address the same week — no autopay set up behind your back, no card on file until you put it there.
How the tax side will work
- Once exemption is granted, the deductible part of a membership is the amount you pay minus the fair market value of what you receive back.
- Federal rules require a written good-faith estimate of that value for any payment over $75 where you get goods or services in return, and we will send one with every receipt at the Steward and Founders levels.
- Benefits you can use repeatedly — the discount, early access, member events — are treated differently from books and merchandise, which have a real retail value.
- We would rather over-disclose than have a member discover the difference at tax time.
Not ready to commit monthly?
A one-time gift does real work and carries no obligation. You can also direct it at the part of the mission you care about most.
Give a collection
Photographs, letters, maps, recordings, business records, artwork. We will tell you plainly whether we are the right home for it, and if we are not, who is.
Give time
Interviewers, scanners, catalogers, drivers, planting crews, and someone who actually enjoys spreadsheets. Volunteers are counted as members.
Get involved
Stewardship is a habit, not a transaction.
A few hundred people at five, fifteen, and twenty-five dollars a month is a functioning institution. That is the entire funding model, and it is deliberately unglamorous.