Consider the Benefits of Joining the SOF!
The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship’s Fall 2021 Fundraising and New Membership Appeal period runs until October 15. We need everyone’s support — and if possible, for you to join the SOF if you’re not already a member — to cover the costs of all we do and help spread our Oxfordian message, research, and evidence. Most of what we do is freely available to the public, including almost all our website resources and exciting events like the online Symposium on October 8–9 [update: the symposium is now concluded; recordings will be posted on the SOF YouTube channel in due course].
Part of our appeal is a special offer for current non-members of the SOF. If you’re a non-member who donates just $60 or more during the appeal period, you are eligible to receive the thank-you gift of a 2022 SOF membership including four printed issues of the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletter mailed to you anywhere in the world (we’ll include the Fall 2021 Newsletter too) — plus all other member benefits such as discounts on in-person conferences (which we plan to resume in 2022) and online access to the latest volume of our scholarly journal, The Oxfordian. This saves up to 24% of the cost of a regular printed-newsletter membership for U.S. residents. Canadians save up to 28% and our friends in other countries 36%.
We are looking for ways to add more innovative membership benefits during 2022. And joining the SOF brings far more than material benefits.
You will join a spirited group of inquisitive people who share a love for language, history, thought-provoking mysteries, and the magnificent works of Shakespeare. Our members live around the globe, keep in touch electronically (and in person as circumstances allow), and share our ideas and research. Our fellowship is supported and run almost entirely by member volunteers (with only a handful of modestly paid part-time contractors, who also donate a lot of additional free time to the SOF). Pursuant to our Bylaws, our Board of Trustees and Officers are all volunteers.
As soon as you join, you will become an important part of our mission and will have the satisfaction of supporting it in a more meaningful way.
This special new member offer is only available during this appeal period and is not available on the regular “Join/Membership” page of our website.
Additional thank-you gift options are also available during the Fundraising Appeal. For full details and the link to donate, please click here. All donations during the appeal period count automatically toward eligibility for all available gifts.
One of our unique gifts is a beautiful oil-on-canvas painting by a professional modern artist, replicating the famous 1575 “Welbeck portrait” of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (see image above). One of these is already taken, but two are still available (each for a donation of at least $750). All three of the Fowler book gifts have already been taken. Don’t miss out!
This Fundraising and New Membership Appeal is held in conjunction with our Fall 2021 SOF Conference. We hope you’ll register for the Conference’s public Symposium on October 8–9, if you haven’t already — as noted above, it’s free!
As SOF President John Hamill has stated: “We wholeheartedly thank all our members, new and old, and are always appreciative of our donors. Everyone’s generosity allows us to keep the organization’s events, research, and outreach programs going. We are especially grateful at this time to SOF Trustees Ben August and Bonner Miller Cutting, who are personally donating several of our wonderful thank-you gifts.”
[published Sept. 30, 2021; earlier related announcements July 10, Aug. 19, Aug. 31, and Sept. 17, 2021; updated Oct. 9, 2021]
