WGS is a 501(c)3 nonprofit public charity organization. Your contribution may be tax deductible under current federal law.   Please check with your tax advisor. Our Publication 78 deductibility code is PC (public charity).

Note: Wilkes Genealogical Society, Inc. is an independent entity from the library. So, if you make a donation to the library we will not get your donation.

Ways to Give

Supporting the Wilkes Genealogical Society can be done in many ways.

Your gift enables us to expand our education, preservation, and sharing of genealogical information with anyone who is interested in researching their ancestry in Wilkes, North Carolina.   

Your contribution is a vital source of funding for Society operations that are not covered by membership fees.      Whether it’s for paying workshop speakers or implementing new programs to better meet the needs of our genealogical community, your financial contribution makes a difference.

Online

The most immediate way to support the work and services of WGS is through monetary contributions.  Your online donation is safe, secure and easy.

By Check

If you would rather mail in your donation, please make your check payable to WGS and mail to:

WGS

215 10th Street
North Wilkesboro, NC 28659

Honorariums and Memorials

Donations may be made to honor someone designated by the donor.  After making your donation, if you wish to make it an Honorarium or Memorial donation, please contact us with the name of the Honoree.  If this is a living person, please include their mailing address so that NCGS can send them an acknowledgement card.

Bequests

A bequest is a simple and meaningful way to make a gift to the Wilke Genealogical Society.    By making a bequest, you can ensure that the Society receives valuable support in the future, which will benefit genealogists and historical researchers for years to come.

To make a bequest, donors can simply include a provision for the Society in their wills or trusts.    Donors can choose to give the Society a specific dollar amount, specific property, or a percentage of their estate.    Your bequest is a gift to the Society, as well as to all genealogists, historical researchers, and your own legacy.

For more information about bequests, contact us.

Volunteering

We are always looking for volunteers who like to write interesting research and stories related to Wilkes County genealogy. If you are either that person or an author, please get in touch with us to publish your material in the WGS Bulletin.

If you are interested in writing for the WGS Bulletin or want to have your own blog on this site, please reach out to us. 

Physical Donations

What do I do with the never-ending story of genealogy and family history I have collected over the years?

Once you’re ready to share and pass on your collection of genealogy and family history material, it’s important to organize what you have, decide who and where to share it with. Create a plan and then execute it. Evaluate and adjust as necessary.

Many people and organizations can benefit from well-documented and organized genealogy and family history, which can be shared in both physical and digital formats. Keep in mind that the types of donated genealogy, family history, and family heirlooms vary depending on the requirements of the institution or group you intend to donate to.

We can arrange for a volunteer with the Wilkes Genealogical Society to help you with this process.

Digital Donations

Photos

Old photos are a great treasure. Most people end up storing all their photos in albums or photo boxes. If you have your photos in older albums with plastic sheet covers, many of those old photo albums are helping to deteriorate your photos because of the plastics in them. The other thing we see is that sometimes photos simply get tossed in the trash when a person passes on.

Please do not let this happen. We are here to help and will be glad to scan your old photos for you.

Please Contact Us if you have photos you want scanned.

I have all my research in a genealogy program and would like to donate my research.

That is great! Now that we are finally coming into the digital age, we are looking at adding a section of family histories on this site.

Preferably we would like your information donated to us in the gedcom file format. Most every genealogy software program will save and export your data to this kind of file.

If you are tech savvy with your program and you make genealogy books that include photos, we will gladly accept that as well. We can pretty much accept any format you have.

All we ask is that you make sure the data is sanitized. This means it does not include any living individuals or photos that can be claimed by someone else (copyright issues).

If you need help with this contact us.

Gifts and Donations Guidelines

All donations become the property of Wilkes Genealogical Society, Inc.

Materials will be reviewed and handled at our own discretion.

We realize some folks have collected massive amounts of genealogical materials over the years. If you have materials you want to donate to the Wilkes Genealogical Society, we would be more than happy to go through your collection with you.

Wilkes Genealogical Society accepts materials that:

• Adds new information to Our Genealogy collection
• Does not violate current privacy and copyright laws
• Does not include living people, for privacy reasons. If a book is donated and contains information about living individuals, the author takes sole responsibility for the availability of this information to the public.

Materials Accepted by the Wilkes Genealogical Society

– We have the means to make digital copies if you want to keep any of your originals.

This is not an exhaustive list.

• Photos – please write lightly and legibly with a #2 pencil on the back of the photo pertaining to who or what the photo is of, the date the photo was taken, and any other pertinent information you want to add. This link provides the best practice of labeling photos.
• Family Bibles
• Family histories (well organized, and includes a title, author, and publication date)
• Video, Audio, or Written Interviews of family members.
• Published genealogical books
• Unpublished genealogical and historical books
• Published historical books such as local and county histories
• Periodicals
• Indexes and transcriptions of records in book format
• Autobiographies and Biographies
• Church histories and Church Minutes
• Artifacts, souvenirs, or memorabilia
• Correspondence and travelogues
• Personal journals
• Newspapers and newspaper clippings
• Obituaries
• Original source documents (birth, marriage, death certificates; probates; deeds, etc.)

Permission to Duplicate or Digitize

In order for us to legally duplicate copyrighted materials, Wilkes Genealogical Society, Inc., must have permission from the author or copyright holder. We must receive a completed General Donation form and a Permission to Duplicate form when applicable, with your materials. We will be glad to help you with this process or go through your materials with you.

The form links above are fillable PDFs. They can be downloaded, filled out, and printed. Alternatively, you can open them in your web browser, fill them out, and print.

Allow Wilkes Genealogical Society Publish your Research

We have had many authors donate their research to the Wilkes Genealogical Society. We now have 60 publications that the WGS produces and sells. If you are interested in leaving your legacy through being published, please contact us.