The Columbus Legacy FoundationHistory from the primary sources
Painting of the Santa María under sail on the open Atlantic
The Funds

What each fund pays for

A gift can be left to the Foundation to place, or directed to one fund. Here is what each fund supports, and what the money actually buys.

The donate page gives each fund a sentence. This page gives it a second one — the concrete work behind the description — because that is usually what a donor is really choosing between.

You do not have to choose. A gift can be left undesignated, and that is the default. Naming a fund instead makes the gift a restricted one: the Foundation may then spend it only on that fund’s purposes. The designation policy at the foot of this page governs both, and it is quoted there in full rather than summarised.

If You Choose Nothing

The default is no designation

Leaving the fund menu where it stands is itself a choice. The gift carries no restriction: the Foundation places it, and it is not tied to any single purpose.

Selected unless you choose otherwise

Where Needed Most — General Fund

What it supports
Your gift will support the Foundation’s highest current priorities and allow us to respond to emerging research, educational, preservation, and institutional needs.
What it pays for
Website, technology, fundraising, insurance, accounting, administration, urgent acquisitions, seed money for new projects, and any underfunded program.

That the gift is unrestricted does not mean it goes nowhere in particular. It means the Foundation can put it against whichever program is short, and against shared costs that belong to no single fund.

Give without designating →

Everything below is the alternative: naming one fund, and holding the Foundation to it.

Fund by Fund

The designated funds

Each of these can be named on the donate page, and naming one restricts the gift to that fund’s purposes — including the reasonable direct and administrative costs of carrying them out.

The Foundation’s designated funds, what each one supports, and what it pays for.
FundWhat it supportsWhat it pays for
Columbus Papers Translation & Digital Corpus FundWhat it supportsSupports the transcription, translation, annotation, digitization, and publication of primary-source documents related to Christopher Columbus.What it pays forNew Spanish–English editions of the Diario, Las Casas’s History of the Indies, and Ferdinand Columbus’s history; archival reproductions, paleography, editorial review, the Seville research team, and the comprehensive online corpus.Give to this fund →
Research, Scholarship & Publications FundWhat it supportsSupports rigorous historical research and the publication of reliable scholarship based on contemporary primary sources.What it pays forLimited and comprehensive bibliographies, historiography, a scholarly journal, conferences, research fellowships, maps, monographs, source guides, and grants to historians or graduate researchers.Give to this fund →
Education & Public Outreach FundWhat it supportsSupports accessible educational materials that bring primary-source history to families, students, teachers, and the general public.What it pays forThe Columbus children’s book and parent companion, K–12 curriculum, educator guides, online courses, videos, public lectures, exhibitions, school resources, and educational Columbus Day programming.Give to this fund →
Research Library & Headquarters FundWhat it supportsSupports the acquisition, preservation, cataloging, and public use of the Foundation’s research collection, as well as the development of permanent research facilities.What it pays forBooks, facsimiles, archival images, shelving, scanners, preservation equipment, cataloging, librarian and historian positions, temporary facilities, an interim South Florida headquarters, and eventually the Florida Keys headquarters.Give to this fund →
Columbus Heritage & Monument Preservation FundWhat it supportsSupports the identification, acquisition, conservation, relocation, interpretation, and permanent protection of Columbus monuments and other historic memorials.What it pays forMonument inventory, ownership research, appraisals, acquisition, transportation, conservation, insurance, maintenance, interpretive signs, memorial gardens, and public commemoration initiatives.Give to this fund →
Educational Travel & Youth Scholarship FundWhat it supportsSupports the development and operation of historically rigorous educational travel, and need-based opportunities for students, families, educators, and researchers to study Columbus-related sites firsthand.What it pays forEstablishing the travel program itself — tour design, participant-selection criteria, safeguarding procedures, and insurance — alongside youth scholarships, Spain–Portugal programs, Caribbean academic tours, historian-guides, curriculum materials, chaperones, safety costs, and subsidies for educators or qualifying families.Give to this fund →

The designation policy

This is the text that appears beneath the fund menu on the donate page. It applies to every gift on this page, designated or not, and it is quoted in full rather than summarised:

The Columbus Legacy Foundation has exclusive legal control over all contributions. Gifts designated for a particular fund will be used to advance that fund’s charitable purposes, including reasonable direct and administrative costs associated with those purposes. If a designated project or program is completed, fully funded, discontinued, impracticable, or no longer consistent with the Foundation’s charitable mission, the Board of Directors may redirect remaining funds to the most closely related charitable purpose.

In plain terms: the Foundation, not the donor, holds legal control of the gift; a designated gift is spent on that fund’s purposes, including the reasonable costs of carrying them out; and if that purpose is finished, fully funded, or no longer practicable, the Board may move what remains to the closest related purpose. That is a redirection, not a refund.

If you want different terms for a particular gift — a named fund, or a written gift agreement — contact the Foundation before you give, while the terms are still open to discussion. For stopping a monthly gift, or asking about one already made, see refunds & cancellations.

Make a Gift →