Spotlight: Deepen Your Engagement beyond the Museum Council

In addition to your Museum Council membership, there are several ways to engage with the MFA and support the Museum.

Sargent Society

The Sargent Society recognizes those who have created a planned gift or included support for the MFA in their long-term financial plans. Sargent Society members receive invitations to special programs that offer insight into the MFA’s collections and exhibitions, and opportunities to meet curators and institutional leadership. To join, you simply need to let us know that the MFA is included in your plans in any way.

Consider naming the MFA a beneficiary of your IRA, 401k, 403b, or other retirement or deferred compensation account(s), one of the easiest and most flexible ways to join the Sargent Society. Museum Council Steering Committee and MFA Planned Giving Committee member Heather Gebbia Knapp says, “The process was simple and quick and allowed me to make a commitment to the MFA beyond my annual support. My family instilled in me the value of supporting institutions that play an inspirational role in one’s life.”

To name the MFA as a beneficiary, you simply need to request a change of beneficiary form from your retirement plan administrator. You can choose to designate the entirety or a percentage of the account for the MFA, and can easily adjust it if needed.

To learn more about this or other planned giving options, please see Planned Giving.

The Denman Waldo Ross Society

Recently, collectors Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and Susan and Matthew Weatherbie committed to giving their exceptional collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art to the MFA. Donating a work of art benefits the entire MFA community, and the Denman Waldo Ross Society was established in 2003 to honor individuals, corporations, and foundations who have made donations of art to the Museum, who have irrevocably pledged a future gift of art, or who have provided funds for the purchase of art at a minimum of $2500. Assist the Museum with the critical goal of continuing to grow by enhancing its world-renowned collections.

Denman Waldo Ross was an art collector, an educator, and a member of the highly influential circle of intellectuals trained by Harvard’s first art historian, Charles Eliot Norton. When not teaching, Ross traveled across the world, collecting art wherever he went. He believed passionately that great art deserved to be enjoyed by all humanity and gave some 11,000 objects to the Museum over the course of 40 years.

For more information on making a gift of art, contact the Gifts of Art Program at goa@mfa.org.

Curators Circles

If you’re passionate about or wish to learn more about a particular area of the MFA’s collection, then the new Curators Circles are a great option. Launching July 1, 2018, Curators Circles will take the place of our Friends Groups and Visiting Committees, combining these groups into a new format of vibrant programming with impactful opportunities for engagement, advocacy, and support. Curators Circles will provide a new community for collectors, life-long learners, and supporters of our curatorial departments.

The annual contribution to join a Curators Circle will be $1,500, which covers enrollment for two people and complimentary parking at Curators Circles events. These funds will be used to support the events, as well as provide for curatorial priorities such as research, travel, acquisitions, and exhibitions. Members of the Museum Council are automatically eligible to join Curators Circles.

Very soon, you will be able to see the full schedule of events for Curators Circles (fifteen individual groups). Meanwhile, for any questions relating to Curators Circles, email curatorscircles@mfa.org. For any questions relating to your current Friends Group renewal, e-mail museumcouncil@mfa.org.