Patronage of the Archive
The Archive is built name by name — and held open by those who carry the work forward. Stand among them.
Listen · a word to patrons
Honored Ancestors is a public archive of African American memory. Every memorial preserved, every editorial wave researched, every name made permanent on the open record is the work of the institution. Patronage sustains that work without conditions on the families we serve. Patrons are recognized in the Archive's standing record — not as customers, but as those who chose to hold the institution open for others.
The standing record
Every patron is entered into the Archive’s standing record — a permanent, public account of those who held the institution open. Not a leaderboard; a roll of stewards. Those who give first are recorded as founding patrons of the Archive. Add your name to theirs.
Annual patronage renews each year on the same date. Cancel any time from the Stripe receipt link.
Recognition on the public Donor Roll. The Archive notes your standing among those who first stood with the work.
Recognition as a Patron of the Archive in the standing record.
Recognition as a Sustaining Patron, in the Archive's standing record of those who carry the work forward year by year.
Recognition as a Benefactor, listed permanently among those who built the institution.
Give what your conscience permits. Any amount is recorded in the Archive as patronage.
Sovereignty, not charity status. Honored Ancestors is the trade name of Abilities Finance, LLC — a Wyoming limited liability company. We are deliberately not a 501(c)(3): charity status would place an outside board between the mission and the families we serve, and we will not hand anyone that power over the record. The trade-off is plain — patronage is not tax-deductible in the United States, and Stripe issues your receipt automatically for your own bookkeeping. Patronage here is a private act of support for the work, recorded as such: sovereignty kept, the mission unredirectable.
On the use of funds. Patronage supports the editorial work of the Archive — research, verification, IPFS pinning, editorial staff, infrastructure, and the long-term preservation of the public record. The institution publishes an annual statement of operations.
Have a question before you give?