Help Friends of the Museum in its effort to support the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Your charitable contribution supports groundbreaking research, inspiring exhibits, mind-opening programs and educational events which inspire more than 600,000 visitors every year.
Annual Fund
The Annual Fund represents unrestricted annual operating support for Friends of the Museum. These funds provide important financial support above and beyond membership dues. Annual Fund donations are used where they are most needed — from providing staff to securing grants for educational programs aimed at underserved communities to bringing in special exhibitions which further the Museum’s mission.
Donor Walk Spot
Count yourself among North Carolina's natural treasures by having your name permanently inscribed on the Museum's Donor Walk, a low wall of North Carolina granite located outside the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Educators of Excellence Fund
The Educators of Excellence Fund empowers educators by improving their teaching skills and inspiring them to remain committed to the profession of teaching.
The Fund:
- Provides a stable funding source for the Museum to continue and expand opportunities for experience-based teacher education.
- Enables outstanding educators to experience the natural world firsthand.
- Teaches students about our many ecological connections to the rest of the world by informing and empowering their teachers.
- Maintains a network for exceptional educators across the state for support and continued learning.
Support the Educators of Excellence Fund by participating in the Museum's annual fundraising event, Bluegrass & Barbeque, by making a tax-deductible contribution or by ordering a Hummingbirds in Winter product. Hummingbirds in Winter, by John Morgan Matyas, is available in two full-color formats:
- As 5" x 7" note cards; boxed set of eight cards, $10
- As an 18" x 26" signed and numbered limited-edition print, $100 donation to the Fund
Ordering information can be obtained by calling 919.733.7450 x351.
Become a Supporter of Excellence! Gifts of $1,500 (may be paid over three years) include recognition as a Supporter of Excellence in the Educators of Excellence Fund brochure, on invitations and signage for the annual Educators of Excellence fundraising event, and on the Educators of Excellence program application. Contact Mary Ann Brittain at 919.733.7450 x675 for information.
Prairie Ridge Ecostation
A major focus of Prairie Ridge is to provide a field station for North Carolina teachers, students and the public to learn about sustainable living and to experience the natural world. The integration of the environmentally friendly building design with a wildlife friendly landscape makes Prairie Ridge the ideal setting for visitors, students, educators and researchers alike. Funds for Prairie Ridge help this Museum facility with projects such as the purchase of native plant species, landscaping materials and citizen science activities which engage youth and adults in current scientific research.
Research Fund
Research is integral to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the only science museum in North Carolina with a full-time research staff. Our scientists maintain the state’s zoological collections; conduct primary research in the natural sciences; collaborate on research projects with universities, state and federal agencies and international organizations; and interpret natural history to the public.
Donations to the Research Fund support on-going and special projects such as:
- Striving to discover the true extent of diversity of several key groups of animals, vertebrate and invertebrate, fossil and recent, in the North Carolina and the Southeast and documenting how they are distributed in space and time such that they may be better understood, appreciated and conserved for posterity.
- Increasing and improving space for collections and research.
- Supporting professional and volunteer research staff with emphasis in aquatic invertebrates, bats, birds, fishes, geology, herpetology, paleontology and terrestrial invertebrates.
Special Exhibits
In addition to its permanent exhibits, the Museum brings in Special Exhibits which enhance the visitor experience and further the Museum’s mission. Past exhibits have included Powers of Nature, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit, Hubble: New Views of the Universe and Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries. In addition to helping bring exciting new exhibits to the Museum, donations to the Special Exhibits Fund support exhibit-related teacher education, hands-on activities for visitors and outreach efforts to increase Museum visitation.
Museum Events
Whether tasting their first ever insect cuisine during BugFest or exploring the outer reaches of space at Astronomy Days, tens of thousands of visitors each year enjoy something special at Museum Events. Other annual events include Reptile & Amphibian Day, Natural History Halloween, Chemistry Day and more. Museum Events help us reach out to new audiences and bring out the fun in science.
