Giving Tuesday — Give to Save!
Our neighborhoods are synonymous with creativity, history, charm, innovation, and openness. Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo have been incubators for some of the greatest artistic, social, architectural, and cultural movements of the last two centuries.
Our lives, our stories, and our memories are rooted in place. That’s why Village Preservation is so important. Because these places matter! Village Preservation works tirelessly to protect and preserve our cherished spaces so that we and all those who come after us will always enjoy our neighborhood’s architecture, scale, and unparalleled sense of place.
Yet our neighborhoods remain more vulnerable than ever.
That’s why your support on this Giving Tuesday means so much. We rely on your dedicated generosity to vigorously pursue our decades-long mission of documenting, celebrating, and preserving the history and culture of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, while also supporting our local small businesses and cultural institutions.
We are so grateful for the donations we receive from individuals like you throughout the year. These personal gifts constitute the vast majority of our annual revenue, and have allowed us to landmark over 1,250 buildings, secure nearly a dozen historic districts, and provide programming and resources about our neighborhoods’ rich histories that reach tens of thousands each year.
Here’s just some of what your support has allowed us to do:
- Secure a “Seven To Save” designation from the Preservation League of NY State for our proposed South of Union Square Historic District, naming it one of the seven most important and endangered historic sites in NY State.
- Lead a successful campaign to defeat a statewide measure to lift the limit on the allowable size of residential development in New York City, which would have allowed “supersized” towers in residential neighborhoods.
- Help support a victorious campaign to convince Mayor Adams to veto a punitive measure that would have penalized longtime SoHo and NoHo residents with crippling fines.
- Lead a successful campaign to eliminate proposed cuts to the Landmarks Preservation Commission from the city budget, which would have crippled the agency’s ability to landmark areas, enforce existing landmark regulations, and expeditiously process applications for changes to properties.
- Call out the City and developers for their neglect and wrongdoing in the Meatpacking District and on Gay Street, allowing landmarked properties to be destroyed, and demanding stiff penalties and full reconstruction of the buildings.
- Unveil three new historic plaques at:
- The recently landmarked 70 Fifth Avenue, which served as the headquarters of NAACP and The Crisis Magazine in the early 20th century, where landmark civil rights campaigns were led and prominent voices of the Harlem Renaissance were first heard, as well as being home to a broad array of other groundbreaking civil rights, civil liberties, social justice, human rights, and progressive organizations.
- 159 West 10th Street, a ca. 1830 house and home to one of NYC’s oldest bars, and its oldest gay bar, Julius’ Bar. In 1966 Julius’ Bar was the site of a trailblazing civil protest for gay rights, more than three years before the Stonewall Riots.
- 206 East 7th Street, the former home of Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, where they both lived early in their careers and hosted (and famously photographed on the fire escape) Jack Kerouac.
- Hold 75 educational programs attended by thousands of people,including the reintroduction of in-person indoor programming for the first time since COVID.
- Serve an all-time high of 2,734 students in our children’s education program, 90% of which were from high-need schools that participated for free or at a reduced cost.
- Publish multiple studies and opinion pieces debunking arguments for eliminating or reducing landmark and zoning protections based upon the false promises of benefits from allowing unrestricted market-rate housing development.
- Produce Village Voices 2022, our highly anticipated second annual outdoor interactive public art exhibition, which is free and open to the public. From September through October, more than 3,000 visitors participated in our much-heralded event.
These efforts require real support, which amounts to just a fraction of the resources wielded by those who seek to destroy the special character of our neighborhoods and strip away our landmark and zoning protections.
That’s why we’re asking you to give to Village Preservation this Giving Tuesday. When you do, you’re giving to the community! As we move into the holiday season, help ensure that the unique and special places that generations of neighbors and their loved ones have fought to sustain and protect remain for generations to come.
Here are more excellent ways you can give to Village Preservation!
Employer Match
Many employers offer generous matches and it is a great way to maximize your gift’s impact. Check with your human resources department for help, and contact our Director of Development to let us know your match is on its way.
Donor-Advised Funds
DAFs combine tax benefits with the flexibility to give to your favorite causes when you are ready. Please contact our Director of Development when you make your DAF gift so that we can properly thank you.
IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions
If you are 70.5 or older, QCDs count toward your Required Minimum Distribution (up to $100,000 annually), effectively lowering your adjusted gross income. Visit the IRS website for more information and please contact our Director of Development when you make your QCD gift.
Planned Giving
Leave a legacy of preservation while reducing the tax burden on your loved ones. Please contact our Director of Development if you have put Village Preservation in your estate plan or are interested in doing so.