Giving Opportunities

Needs and Naming Opportunities

As a part of Boston University, APARC's initial start-up costs (such as space, salaries, and publicity materials) will be covered by the university. However, APARC is currently involved in fund-raising activities to cover the costs of the major programs we hope to develop, such as the Presidents-in-Residence Program, the Annual African Leaders' State of Africa Report, the Public Papers/Private Conversations Project, and various lecture series. Anyone interested in making a contribution to any of the programs or in proposing a new program at the center should contact Ambassador Charles Stith (617-353-5452) for more information.

In particular, APARC is looking for donors who are interested in making a long-lasting contribution to the center in the form of an endowment. The endowment opportunities will all involve naming opportunities, and they are listed below.

Endowment of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center
Required commitment: $10,000,000

A donor who wishes to endow the African Presidential Archives and Research Center may do so with a commitment of $10,000,000. Income from this gift would be used for a variety of purposes within the Center as determined by the donor’s preferences and the Center’s areas of greatest need. The donor endowing the Center will be offered a significant naming opportunity.

Endowment of the African Presidential Library
Required commitment to launch renovation and or new construction: $5,000,000

The Center will be a repository for the interviews, writings, papers, and other documents obtained from democratically elected leaders of Africa and others who have influenced the present phase of Africa’s development. A donor who wishes to endow the African Presidential Library will launch the construction or renovation of a facility on the Boston University campus to house the African Presidential Library, and will be offered a significant naming opportunity in relation to this momentous first step in the development of the archival work of the Center.  

Endowment of the Presidents-in-Residence Program
Required commitment: $3,000,000

To establish the African Presidential Archives and Research Center it is necessary to launch its residency program, two-year residential opportunities for democratically elected former African leaders who will write, lecture, and engage the university and the broader community on African issues. The donor endowing the Presidents-in-Residence Program will be offered a significant naming opportunity.

Endowment of the Public Papers and Private Conversations Project
Required commitment: $2,000,000

This project is designed to ensure that the insights and wisdom gained during the dynamic early years of Africa’s experience in democracy and free-market reform are chronicled and preserved for future generations to study and analyze. Researchers will visit select African countries to collect the public papers of democratically elected leaders, and to meet with them and conduct in-depth interviews regarding contemporary events on the continent. The donor endowing this project will be offered a significant naming opportunity. Endowment gifts of $50,000 earmarked by the donor for specific papers or regions of Africa will create a fund bearing the name of the donor or of a person the donor wishes to honor.

Endowment of the State of Africa Report
Required commitment: $1,500,000

The State of Africa Report will offer a much needed, annual commentary on politics and policies from the perspective of the individuals shaping those trends. Several current publications focus attention on Africa, but one critical perspective has not been chronicled in an ongoing and systematic way ¾ that of leaders in Africa who are furthering democratic governance and free market reform. The African Leaders’ Report will address this glaring need. The donor endowing the Report will be offered a significant naming opportunity.

Endowment ofPublic Programming
Required commitment: $600,000

Programming will provide a perpetual source of funding for lectures and other activities that will bring the work of the Center to a broad audience. Speeches, lectures and symposia will receive wide media distribution, through WBUR, the University’s National Public Radio affiliate, and on television through PBS, CNN or other outlets. A lecture series of one semester may be endowed for $200,000, and a lecture series for the full academic year may be endowed at $400,000. An individual exhibition at the African Presidential Library may be sponsored for $10,000-$20,000, depending on the donor’s interests.