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[UPDATE} APRIL 2022 CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

It's been a busy year - supply constraints & staffing has made it more time consuming than usual to get quotes and schedule repairs.  The fall 2021 planned projects to replace the building doors and upgrade the sewer line to the street have taken much longer than expected and are still in progress.  This has delayed organizing for the larger projects of new windows and repointing the brick façade. The Lamson Condominium Trust now has a candidate project manager, so getting quotes, applying for a renovation loan, and the capital campaign first discussed last year can begin.

WILG will need to apply for a renovation loan.  We hope you will contribute!  As discussed in the capital campaign brochure:

- To qualify for a tax deduction for the IRS, you will need to make your donation through the Independent Residence Development Fund (IRDF) using MIT’s Giving page, which supports multi-year pledges. If you choose a multi-year pledge option, your pledges will need to complete by June 2025 to qualify for the WILG Capital Campaign. MIT will automatically apply IRDF contributions to WILG based on your status as a WILG alumna. Donations will count toward your class giving record. If you are married to another MIT alum, you may need to clarify the amount designated to WILG by contacting the Alumni Fund at [phone redacted] or by sending an email. Don’t forget employer matching!

- If your contribution will not qualify for a tax deduction:

  = Consider giving directly to WILG via Zelle ([email redacted].edu),

  = GoFundMe, which supports credit card donations,

  = Venmo (@mitwilg),

  = or check made out to WILG and mailed to Beverly Borden.


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[UPDATE] COVID-19 

In these unprecedented times, with MIT asking all students to leave campus and jobs shutting down indefinitely, several of our WILG alumnae have reached out asking what they can do to help support our students.  There are many unknowns ahead of us, but we can assume that impacts will be felt for months ahead.  We have updated this page with options for how you can help.

Above all, please practice social distancing so that the sacrifices our students are making are not in vain.  Please take care of yourself and your loved ones and your neighbors as best you can.  And thank you for thinking of our WILG family at this time.

In solidarity and on behalf of the entire WILG Corp,
Nina Mak
WILG Corp President ('01)

Options for supporting students:

Direct donations to WILG
While this page was originally set up to fundraise for the purchase of our house, we are leveraging it for these purposes as well.  Donations made through this page help WILG Corp have the flexibility to respond to whatever situation the house might face, whether it’s students struggling financially or the facilities needing major repairs.

Please note that donations made through this page require a credit card and are NOT tax-deductible.  97% of your donation will go directly to WILG.

If you would like to make a donation by check, please use the Contact Us  link to find out where to mail your check.  It no longer makes sense to receive checks at the house and we do not want to publish personal home addresses here.

Indirect donations to WILG via IRDF
Donations to IRDF are tax-deductible and go into a common pool to support all FSILGs.  WILG can request funds from this pool to offset the cost of house repairs and renovations, thus giving us more flexibility with the Corp savings account to support students financially.  We are also in the process of setting up a capital campaign with IRDF (related to the house purchase below), which will allow 90% of your donation to go directly to WILG; more details to come later.

Donate to IRDF 
Tips for donating to IRDF 

Please also Contact Us  to say you've given to IRDF.  It takes a while for notifications about those gifts to work their way through MIT systems, and we'd like to be able to thank you sooner!

Financial support for any MIT student
You can fill out this form to offer financial support  to MIT students.  This is a general (non-WILG-specific) matching effort being voluntarily coordinated by an MIT alum, Mike Short.  No information will be passed to WILG Corp, and any student (WILG or non-WILG) will be able to claim your offer.

Housing support for any MIT student
You can fill out this form to offer housing support  to MIT students.  This is another general (non-WILG-specific) effort being voluntarily coordinated by an MIT alum, Yolanda Lau (‘02).  Requests from WILG students and offers from WILG alums are getting passed to Natalie (Corp VP).


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WILG is buying our house and looking ahead to another 40 years!

Could you imagine your MIT experience without WILG?

We've sanded floors, we've emptied grease traps, we've baked cheesecake and cookies, we've laughed together, we've cried together, we've been presidents and rush chairs and risk managers. We've formed life-long friendships, and as alumnae, many of us have given back time, money, and advice to help keep the house vibrant and strong.

Our lease ends June 30, 2020 with the option to buy our house in Central Square from MIT for $1. It is an incredible opportunity to become that much more independent, to own all the sweat equity we've put into the house for all these years, and to secure WILG's future.

But we will have to cover legal fees, and our beloved building needs some major renovations if it's going to provide a warm, safe home for future generations of female students. We estimate it will cost more than $600,000 over the next 5-10 years (beyond normal house expenses and maintenance) to replace the drafty, leaky, single-pane windows, repoint the masonry, make some safety improvements, and pay off the loan for this summer's HVAC renovation.

These projects will be a major commitment of housemember and Corp time and will require borrowing and fundraising from alumnae in a way we haven’t before. We hope that our alumnae community will show its support and that WILG can continue to keep house bills as low as possible, so that any student who wants to live at WILG can afford to.

If you'd like to keep WILG going, and if you have the means, please consider making a contribution.

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Donations 

  • Michael Sanchez
    • $200 
    • 3 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $100 (Offline)
    • 4 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $1,000 (Offline)
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

WILG Corporation
Organizer
Cambridge, MA
Beverly Borden
Beneficiary

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