Date: November 10th, 2009

Here I go - begging for money.

Please help in any way you can.


Folks - three years ago The Beat Museum opened its doors at the beginning of probably the worst economic time in most of our lives. We’ve been able to hang on by our fingernails - barely. And I’ll admit to you it has not been easy. In fact, truth be told, there have been a few occasions when money was so tight I came very close to simply shutting the doors and walking away.

And frankly, the reason I haven’t done it is because every other day it seems I have someone say to me - “Thank you for doing this. Thank you for keeping this spirit alive.” And I’ll admit that kind of feedback buoys me. But it doesn’t pay any of the many overdue bills and it doesn’t keep our creditors from calling demanding payment.

So, I’m turning to you - the core group of people who have helped make The Beat Museum possible from the very beginning. I’m asking for your immediate financial assistance to help us get through the next few months until the tourists start to return to San Francisco in the Spring.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1). Please Do Your Holiday Shopping at Kerouac.com

2). Please Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Our Non-Profit

3). Please Ask Your Friends and Family to Do The Same
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1). DO YOUR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SHOPPING AT KEROUAC.COM

Even if you’re scaling back for Christmas, you’re still probably going to be buying some gifts for friends and family - do it at Kerouac.com. I know you may be tempted to buy from Amazon or some other discounter to save some money, but I’d ask you to remember that Amazon does not have a Beat Museum for you to come visit the next time you’re in San Francisco.

And if you’re a student, ask your parents to check out our new Stocking Stuffers on the front page of Kerouac.com. Parents LOVE to buy books and educational stuff for their kids - it makes them feel they’re raising you right!



Click here to view our stocking stuffers or to make a purchase:

http://www.kerouac.com/homepage.htm



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2). MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO OUR NON-PROFIT PUBLIC CHARITY
You may or may not be aware that we have our own non-profit organization that supports The Beat Museum called The Foundation for Creative Expression (FFCE.org). The sole mission of this non-profit is to support various projects and programs of The Beat Museum. Every time we have an event, the non-profit sponsors it financially and every time we build a new exhibit the FFCE accepts donations and transfers it to The Beat Museum.

If you’re one of the fortunate ones who could use a tax deduction this year, why not make the choice to give a tax-deductible donation to The Foundation for Creative Expression. And if you work for a major corporation they’ll often match that donation to a 501(C)3 public charity (which is what FFCE is). Our IRS tax ID is 74-3198671. You can write a check, use a credit card or even Paypal. You can even do it by phone by calling 1-800-KER-OUAC.



THREE WAYS TO DONATE TO THE FFCE.org

A). WRITE A CHECK
to the FFCE and mail to:
The Foundation for Creative Expression
540 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133

B). CALL WITH A CREDIT CARD
to The Beat Museum at 415-399-9626 or 1-800-KER-OUAC to make a credit card donation. Please call between the hours of 10 AM and 7 PM Pacific Time and have you’re credit card handy.

C). DONATE VIA PAYPAL

You can make a donation to FFCE or learn more here:

http://ffce.org/donate.html



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3). PASS THE WORD
Even if YOU can’t do any of the above, please spread the word by asking your family and friends to either make a donation to the FFCE or make a purchase from Kerouac.com. 

It’s crunch time, folks, and the bottom line is The Beat Museum can only continue to spread the Spirit of The Beats if we’re in a financial position to do so. We’re all making some tough choices these days, but we ARE still making choices.

Please do what you can -



Thanks!




Jerry Cimino

The Beat Museum

540 Broadway (at Columbus)

San Francisco, CA 94133

1-800-KER-OUAC

www.kerouac.com





“While I am here I will do the work - and what is the work? To ease the pain of living. Everything else, drunken dumbshow.”
 - Allen Ginsberg