Giving Tuesday at Idaho Museum of Natural History

This Tuesday is Giving Tuesday, a day that has been encouraging people to help non-profit groups in the wake of days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, since 2012.

The Idaho Museum of Natural History, which sits on the Idaho State University campus, is among the participants this year.

Offering different ways and denominations in which to donate, each with its own incentive, the money helps the museum continue to function and preserve history, as it’s done since opening in 1934.

According to museum Director of Development, Terri Bergmeier, “Giving Tuesday means a lot. We rely on our annual support which Giving Tuesday is part of, to fund our exhibits like our shark.”

It also helps “to fund our educational programs, and also to help with our collection. We have over 700,000 collected items in the building and it doesn’t always come cheap, so financial support is really needed to keep our operations running,” Bergmeier explained.

So what is the return for those who donate? This year, it is a tiered system based on the amount donated.

“We have a pay it forward for a smaller gift, that allows you to buy a pass for a family to come in and visit the museum that may be otherwise would be unable to visit…We have some citizen scientist packages, you can help with sorting fossils,” Bergmeier said.

And for the larger donors, tickets to the museum’s 30th annual Science Trek and their 85th-anniversary gala.

Today, Bergmeier was shooting for $2,000. While it doesn’t seem like a lot, “$2,000 goes a long way here at the museum,” she said. “So I think that that would be a big help in providing educational materials.”