With Presence and Purpose, AFS Is Every Day!

As this year winds down, we warmly invite you to consider AFS in your charitable giving. Your involvement genuinely shapes what is possible in our field.

The past year has reminded us how essential it is to safeguard cultural knowledge, creative practice, research and academic freedom, and community-rooted expression. Across the arts and humanities, we’ve seen funding uncertainties, shifting institutional priorities, and rapid changes in how cultural work is resourced. In moments like these, your commitment becomes a stabilizing force. It affirms that the study, celebration, and stewardship of folklore and traditional arts are indispensable to a thriving society.

As you plan your year-end contributions, we ask you to include AFS in your giving to support the aspects of our work that most resonate with you. What you make possible through a donation to the American Folklore Society is distinct. With your partnership:

• We nurture students, scholars, practitioners, and cultural leaders at every career stage
• We respond swiftly to needs that emerge across communities and institutions
• We sustain collaborations that elevate knowledge and expand community
• We advocate for the programs, policies, and educational spaces that uphold the discipline of folklore studies and practice in our field
• We create opportunities for connection, learning, and shared stewardship

This work is grounded and built on both the strong foundations of our discipline and also the commitment and trust across our member community. Your gift to our annual Sustainers’ Fund supports our operations and expands efforts to uplift members, carries forward traditions, and sustains the networks that hold communities together. Your support of the AFS Endowment Fund strengthens these foundations and ensures a healthy future.

Over the coming weeks we will be sharing more opportunities to give along with narratives about how your contribution impacts the future of the field. We invite you to share your own stories with us if you would like to send them, either tagged on your social media or by email at info@afsnet.org.

Your generosity ensures that cultural heritage remains visible, valued, and vibrant. Thank you for choosing to stand with us, and for helping to sustain the work that binds our field—and our communities—together.