Founders'
Campaign
This year, you are invited to join Flower Hill at the beginning, as part of our Founders’ Campaign. The Founders’ Campaign is an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to the projects that will keep our doors open to the public.
Collectively, we are raising $300,000 to support four key areas of development for 2021. These founding areas include developing the wildscape, building our education and outreach programming, continuing preservation projects for the home and collection, and ensuring community access for all to the grounds, home, and collection.
If you are interested in sponsoring a project we invite you to schedule a time to walk the grounds, peruse history, and envision the future with us!
Contact the Executive Director to arrange a tour and to learn more about sponsoring a Founders' Campaign project.
Flower Hill is home to 1.38 acres of Texas wildscape, a rare gift right in the heart of Austin. The following items detail opportunities for how you and Flower Hill can help protect our city’s precious greenspaces.
Heritage Tree Care – A team of professional arborists will provide inspection, care, and maintenance for our 15 heritage trees, some of which are over 500 years old. Helping us save these environmental relics will keep a part of Austin’s past alive as well as maintain a home for Austin’s wildlife of today.
Project Cost: $7,200 SPONSORED
American Indian Signal Tree Care – According to the Texas Historical Tree Coalition, the “Indian marker trees are the living witnesses to the history of a past civilization and their incredible way of life.” Trained from a sapling to point in the direction of important meeting places or water hundreds of years before the arrival of European settlers, these rare trees provide a living map of the past, and Flower Hill has one of them. Our signal tree requires general tree care as well as a specialized brace to support the unique configuration the tree has since grown into.
Project Cost: $4,800 SPONSORED
Rockery Garden Rebuild – Comprised of Texas honeycomb rock and installed in the 1920s by Julia Williams Smoot and her sister Amelia. The rockeries provide beautiful and unique organic structure for Flower Hill’s many gardens. They have shifted over the years and are currently overrun by ‘cats’ claw’. It is time to give them the TLC they deserve.
Project Cost: $6,000 SPONSORED
Historic Retaining Wall Rebuild— Built in the 1920s, Flower Hill’s historic western retaining wall, a relic of Old West Austin, has had to cope in recent years with unforeseen runoff produced by new surrounding properties and the city’s usage of impervious cover. Today, portions of the wall are collapsed, diminishing the historical value of the property and threatening the stability of the western grounds. A team of structural and geotechnical engineers have designed a new retaining wall that fits the historical integrity of the grounds and meets the needs of Austin’s changing topography. Flower Hill seeks the funds to erect this replacement wall.
Project Cost: $70,794
Gardens for SFC Partnerships with Grow Local and Farm Direct Programs – It’s time to get Flower Hill’s original vegetable gardens up and running again! Your support will provide resources for two gardens, which will provide fresh, organic produce for the Sustainable Food Center of Austin’s Grow Local and Farm Direct Programs.
Project Cost: $18,000
Full Wildscape Sponsorship $106,794
Wildscape
Education
We can think of no better way to serve our community and honor a family of Texas educators than to continue the legacy of teaching and learning right here at Flower Hill. If you value the role history and the arts plays in the lives of Austinites of all ages, donating to our Education Outreach programming may be right for you.
SMOOT Program - Student Minds Organizing Opportunities for Teens (SMOOT) is a volunteer group of local area high school students who currently meet once a month to help develop curriculum and programming opportunities for teens in the Austin community. In addition to developing hands-on immersive programing, each member of SMOOT has also taken on individual volunteer projects focusing on archiving Miss Jane Smoot’s travel slides, diaries, and scrapbooks. Contributions will be used to attract and accommodate more volunteers, support their projects, and share their findings with the larger community.
Project Cost: $2,016
Pop-Up Museum Events - In an effort to share our mission and vision with the Austin community we have created a ‘pop-up museum’ that can be showcased in classrooms, living rooms, and the like! It is imperative that we continue to share the story of the Smoots and their home— building connections, interest, and investments with our community. Your contributions will put us in front of more audiences.
Project Cost: $1,200
Sundays with the Smoots Podcast – The Smoots have some tremendous stories to share. Today, a weekly mini-documentary series “Sundays with the Smoots” is hosted on Facebook and our website; we have plans to turn our archive of oral histories into a podcast! Funding will lead to the production and promotion of our podcast.
Project Cost: $6,000
Curriculum Development – Flower Hill is the perfect experiential classroom for teaching about the important roles preservation, green space conservation, and civics have played in Austin’s history and continue to play in our world today. Flower Hill must provide immersive hands on curriculum for students of all ages that will center on the grounds, home, artifacts, and civil service. Your contribution will unlock the educational potential of our space and story for everyday use.
Project Cost: $3,600
Culture Connect Mobile Tour Guide – Culture Connect helps “...museums engage their visitors with cutting-edge digital products that are fun to use and deepen the cultural experience", http://cultureconnectme.com/. This donation covers the construction of the mobile tour guide app and five years of membership. Your donation will help create an easy-to-use platform for the mobile Flower Hill Tour, ensuring that our full collection, the home, and the grounds are accessible to all!
Project Cost: $12,000
Full education Sponsorship $24,816
Preservation
As an active Urban Homestead Museum, it will be Flower Hill’s dream to serve our community—it is our sworn duty to preserve the material integrity of our precious resource. At Flower Hill, preservation and growth go hand-in-hand. If you want to be a part of making sure our gifts remain for the next generation’s education and enjoyment, consider making a donation to one of our preservation initiatives.
Collection Management Project – This project includes the updating, digitizing, and preserving of the existing collection catalogue that documents over 4,000 artifacts and objects in the Flower Hill collection. It will take a knowledgeable and dedicated team of volunteers to get this project underway. Your support will go to providing this team with the resources necessary for undertaking such a vital task.
Project Cost: $22,800
Accessioning Software for Collection Management Program – Thanks to the generous support of one our sponsors, Flower Hill has acquired the industry-standard software required to begin our Collection Management Project.
Project Cost: $5,000 SPONSORED
Collection Management Coordinator Position - To oversee the extensive Collection Management Project and volunteers, a knowledgeable and dedicated coordinator will need to be hired. Your donation will go to subsidizing this part-time position for up to one year.
Project Cost: $16,853
Oral History Collection/Former Students - Our growing database of Jane Smoot's former students provides insight into how many lives a single educator can change in a career. A celebration of teachers everywhere, an oral history of the museum’s founder, and a networking tool to sustain interest and support, this project will require recording hardware and software as well as a team of volunteers.
Project Cost: $8,400
Full Preservation Sponsorship $48,053
ACCESS
No house is without a sturdy foundation, and no museum can operate without meeting city requirements. Gifts in this category help Flower Hill achieve accessibility for all, develop plans and initiatives for protecting our resources, and acquire the necessary permitting to open our doors to the public. Here, you can transform this dream into a reality.
Certificate of Occupancy Permitting Process, Requirements, and Construction - Our Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Austin is an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to the projects that will open our doors to the public and help make it accessible for all.
Project Cost: $30,000 SPONSORED
ADA Accessibility and Access – Flower Hill is for everyone and a gift to our ADA Accessibility and Access initiative will help us make every possible accommodation we can while preserving our historic landmark.
Project Cost: $30,000
Part-Time Grant Writer — Sometimes it takes a village to save a home. With the support of a part-time grant writer, Flower Hill will be able to build valuable and lasting relationships with funders and foundations to help secure the future of the museum. Flower Hill has currently identified over 30 local foundations and grant-making organizations with which we wish to build partnerships! A part-time grant writer will help make these goals a reality.
Project Cost: $12,000
Accessibility Survey – Thanks to a generous donation from a sponsor, an accessibility and access survey is underway to address our existing house conditions and develop a plan for accessibility as it pertains to Flower Hill.
Project Cost: $2,500 SPONSORED
ADA Parking – Providing support for ADA parking at Flower Hill to makes sure our wonderful resource is available to everyone!
Project Cost: $10,000 SPONSORED
Preservation Maintenance Plan – A generous donation has sponsored a comprehensive document that is now guiding the development, prioritization, and implementation of repair and restoration projects at Flower Hill. Thank you!
Project Cost: $22,000 SPONSORED
Full Access Sponsorship $72,000
Schedule a Tour
If you are interested in sponsoring a project we invite you to schedule a time to walk the grounds, peruse history, and envision the future with us!
Contact the Executive Director to arrange a tour and to learn more about sponsoring a Founders' Campaign project.
info@flowerhillfoundation.org | 512-305-3650