Donate
Thank you for making a gift to help fund the Museum’s mission and work. There are several areas of Museum life to support which are listed below.
The Museum is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and gifts are tax-deductible. Gifts may be made online using the links below or by check payable to Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium and mailed to the Museum at P.O. Box 1580, Sanibel, FL, 33957.
Please scroll down for a donation form if donating by check.
With inquiries about contributing, including gifts of stock and estate giving, please call (239) 347-5112.
Thank you. Your support makes a difference!
Greatest Need
Unrestricted gifts offer the Museum the most flexibility in support of education, exhibits, marine life, collections care, the aquariums and facility, and the visitor experience.
Education
Gifts in support of the full range of educational programs help fund youth education, lectures, classes, field education, community science, gallery talks, hands-on activities, and more.
Adopt-A-Class
Directly support education in shells and science for Southwest Florida school children with a gift to the impactful Adopt-A-Class program.
Field trips to the Museum and the Mollusks on the Move outreach program reach over 15,000 K-12 students a year, many of whom are at Title 1 schools and have had little exposure to shells, mollusks, and the lessons of the natural world they convey.
Animal Care & Research
Have a special interest in the aquariums and marine life? Gifts in support of animal care and research fund the highest standards of care for hundreds of animals, operation of the back-of-house aquarium systems, and the Museum’s work to discover and publish new findings about mollusks to aid in their conservation.
Collection
The Museum’s collection of shells and other specimens numbers approximately 600,000 and is used in service of public exhibition and national and international scientific study. Gifts in this area fund organization and storage, acquisition of specimens to add to the collection, and the curatorial work to manage one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind.
