Dear members, supporters and friends:
I'm thrilled to share the story below with you; I hope you'll read it and draw inspiration for what might lie ahead. I also must remind you we just can't do this without your support. There are 3 days left to make your 2016 donation (you can do so here). If you haven't given what you can yet, I ask you to please make a generous year-end gift. Thank you so much! --Greg Epstein
***
We're delighted to share that the Humanist Hub and Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard are discussed in this Sunday's
New York Times Magazine
(the article is available online already, here)
piece on USC humanist chaplain Bart Campolo.
This NYT piece describes Campolo, at a critical moment in his search for life after religion, visiting the Humanist Hub and our Executive Director and humanist chaplain Greg Epstein, where he got the inspiration for his new career. The piece describes the Hub one of the most influential humanist groups in the country, at a moment where groups like it seem to be the future of the humanist/secular/atheist movement. It even calls Epstein a "godfather to the [humanist] movement," and "the anti-Dawkins."
Bart is the son of Tony Campolo, a famous Evangelical Christian pastor and former spiritual advisor to President Bill Clinton. As described in the article, Bart got the idea to found his chaplaincy after a long 2014 visit with Greg Epstein at the Hub; and we are excited to announce that Bart and his father Tony will visit us again on Sunday March 26, one of very few joint stops on the book tour for their new book
Why I Left, Why I Stayed
, as part of our soon to be announced Winter season!
Neither the Hub nor our work at Harvard receive any funding from Harvard University. Greg has never received any salary or financial benefits from Harvard (though we suspect a majority of our members
still
think he does); neither do the rest of our staff, and certainly only donations like yours can cover the approximately $100,000 per year it costs to rent and maintain our busy home in the heart of Harvard Square-- a powerful symbol for those who've never realized humanists, atheists and agnostics could build inspirational and loving communities of our own. All of our hundreds of 2016 programs were funded entirely by individuals like you; we hope to continue to inspire leaders like Bart and provide an inspirational model for what humanist communities can be, but we can only do so with your support.
There are still 3 DAYS left to make your 2016 contribution...
If we had to rely on the people who attend those programs for our funding, we would have to ask each person to contribute around $1,200. Our modest annual budget of $480,000 covers rent, a small core staff to support members and programs, and everything else we do.
We have hundreds of students, young members and others who could never afford such a large donation. So we do need you to keep this number in mind as you determine the size of your own financial gift to your community.
If you've already given what you can, we love you and we thank you. If you can give more: consider an annual gift of $300 -- only a quarter of what we would need, per-person, to keep the Hub community going as it is now. If you're on a limited budget please consider any amount, even $50. If you can afford to sponsor one or two young members with a large gift, please consider it.
Thank you so much for your support!