Give Back
Thank you for helping us make a difference. Preserving the history of broadcast history is incredibly important. The National Capital Radio & Television Museum’s efforts are limitless in ensuring that we provide the public with the artifacts and stories that are part of the foundation of broadcast today.
As a volunteer organization, we are always looking for folks to join us in our preparation of exhibits, repairing old radio and television receivers, acting as docents to provide tours, and other roles involved in operating a museum. We encourage you to consider becoming a member or fellow volunteer. Donations, no matter how small, will make a difference and are always greatly appreciated.
Ways to Give
Make a Financial Donation
You can make a tax-deductible donation online, by check, or by credit card. Instructions for each of these options are written in the sections below. Your donations help us continue our efforts and ensure we can operate for years and years to come.
Legacy or "Planned" Giving
Love what we do and hope to help us continue sharing radio and television history well into the future? Consider incorporating a planned gift to the National Capital Radio & Television Museum in your financial or estate plan. Including the NCRTV Museum in your Will or Trust is an easy yet meaningful way to make a lasting impact.
Donations of Radios, Televisions, and Related Items
The NCRTV Museum welcomes donations of appropriate items for the Museum. NCRTV Museum is an IRS 501(c)(3) organization, so if you itemize deductions on your tax return you can claim a deduction for the fair market value of the donation. As with all charitable donations, it is up to you, the donor, to determine the value of donated items for tax purposes; however, you are welcome to refer to antique radio price guides in our library. IRS requires that you hire a professional appraiser to establish the value of particularly valuable items.
Please contact the Museum first to inquire about a donation and to set up a drop off / pick up time:
(301) 390-1020 or info@ncrtv.org
Give Online
PLEASE NOTE: The PayPal option should NOT be used for payments for goods or services (e.g., tubes or photocopies). If you wish to use PayPal to pay for those items, let us know and we will invoice you. Thanks!
By Check
If you would prefer to send us a check, checks should be made payable and sent to:
NCRTV Museum
PO Box 1809
Bowie, MD 20717
By Credit Card
To pay by credit card, please call the office at 301-390-1020 during regular business hours to consult with staff regarding such payments.
Other Ways to Help
Museum Memberships
By joining the NCRTV Museum today, you’ll help us achieve, sustain, and preserve the legacy of radio and television. Consider becoming a member TODAY!
Members receive a variety of benefits such as online access to a growing repository of rare and hard-to-find digitized historical material on radio and television, invitations to special events at the museum and elsewhere, and 10% off of purchases at the Museum store.
Corporate Sponsorships
Did you know that museums are an important component of the American economy (approximately $2 billion annually) and also play a critical role in education, through partnerships with schools, libraries, and other museums?
More people visit museums on an annual basis than attend sporting events! Your sponsorship will allow you to reach many people who might not otherwise know about you. In addition, you will be supporting educational programs right here in Bowie.
Volunteering
The National Capital Radio & Television Museum has a team of talented and interested volunteers in addition to the board of directors who help in a variety of areas. We always welcome others, regardless of background, experience or area of interest.
Donating Items
While donated items frequently are added to the Museum’s permanent collection, you should understand that NCRTV Museum will not retain all donated items for our museum collections. When we receive a duplicate of an item we already have, we will keep the best example and deaccession the other. Radios, TVs, or other items in poor condition that would require extensive restoration work to be readied for display will not be kept if we know that we can easily locate similar ones in good condition in private collections that could be loaned to us for display whenever we need them. From time to time the Museum holds auctions of surplus property. Such auctions help to provide operating funds that are essential to the Museum’s success, so even if your donated item is not retained, you can still be confident that you have helped the Museum and that the item will end up in the collection of someone who will enjoy it. While we usually can give you an indication as to whether the item you are considering donating will be kept, we cannot guarantee that any particular item will be kept in perpetuity. The NCRTV Museum deed of gift form that you will sign states that you give the item with no strings attached. If that is not acceptable to you, then you should not make the donation.
We Typically Accept Items Such as the Following:
- Pre-1960 Books and magazines: technical books, radio history books, broadcasting items such as early TV Guides, etc.
- Post-1960 books and magazines: please check with us first. We DO NOT want Life Magazines, Popular Mechanics, or other books or magazines not related to radio and television.
- Pre-WWII radio or separate speaker
- Post-WWII tube radios except for most large radio/phonograph consoles
- 1954-1970 transistor radios and modern novelty transistor radios
- Most radio/TV test equipment
- Pre-1950 black-and-white television sets
- Post-1950 rare or novelty television sets
- Mid-1950s color television sets
- Wire recorders
- Boxes of usable radio parts
- Tubes (new or used)
- Microphones
- Ham equipment
- Records—only if they are radio related (e.g., transcription disks, sound effects records)
- Pictures, audio tapes, brochures, advertising ephemera, scrapbooks, etc. related to radio and TV performers, stations, and networks
Please contact the Museum’s curator via email at bbelanger@ncrtv.org, or by phone at (301) 390-1020. In some cases we may be able to pick up donations at your site.