Without external funding the Herbarium is due to cease operation on January 1, 2017. I am writing to ask if you can help us in our fundraising efforts, either personally or by pushing the news of the campaigns out through your social media networks. First, we are in the midst of an exciting LaunchUMD campaign. We are raising $5,000 for work in the collection. Most of this work involves training undergraduates, thus beyond its scientific importance the work contributes to the educational mission of the University. We have raised $2,150 and we have 13 days left to meet our goal. Won't you help us by either donating or pushing the news out through your networks? We also have a longer term fundraising campaign to build an endowment. This endowment will fund operating the herbarium (curating and digitizing specimens, further documenting the flora, and offering educational opportunities to students and citizens interested in Maryland plants) that the University is no longer willing to support. In addition building an endowment that would secure the long-term future of the Herbarium, we need to bridge a budget shortfall for 2017 of $100,000. For more than 100 years, the University of Maryland has maintained the Norton-Brown Herbarium. This collection is integral to the University's land grant mission. It has benefitted University researchers, state agencies, and the citizens of Maryland throughout its history. It is the best record of Maryland’s flora – past and present – and is an irreplaceable resource for identification and ongoing documentation of the changing flora. Herbarium staff are highly regarded for their knowledge and the The data housed in the Norton-Brown Herbarium have played a key role in shaping policy and management on native and non-native plants in Maryland. We are leaders among herbaria nationally in modernizing our collection, especially in digitizing the collection and making it accessible on our website. A major result of the digitization effort is the Maryland Plant Atlas, an electronic flora of the state developed through a collaborative partnership.
Again, without external support, Herbarium services such as identification, collection and processing of specimens digitization, support for research and teaching will be suspended at the end of 2016. Please help us keep doing the great work we are known for.
The link you can use for LaunchUMD is https://www.launch.umd.edu/project/2799 The link you can use for the general fundraising campaign and endowment is http://giving.umd.edu/giving/fund.php?name=norton-brown-herbarium-fund
