The Russell Kirk Center’s

25th Anniversary Campaign

conserve and enliven
The Permanent Things

Founded in 1995, the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal is a unique residential library and conference facility situated on the ancestral property of Russell Kirk in Mecosta, Michigan. It was here that Dr. Kirk wrote his influential books, welcomed students for weekend seminars, and hosted research fellows from around the world. Building upon the scholarship of Dr. Kirk and these organic practices, the Kirk Center’s mission is to strengthen the intellectual formation of each generation in the principles and institutions that nurture America’s civil social order. 

Over the course of twenty-five years, the Center has worked with students, educators, and professionals through seminars, residential fellowships, and publications to deepen their understanding of Western civilization and the American experience within it. Thousands of students have participated in the Center’s interdisciplinary humanities conferences. The Center’s residential Fellowship provides the ideal conditions to complete serious research and writing projects while part of a vibrant academic community. This Fellowship counts hundreds of alumni engaged in renewing society’s central institutions: family, church, school, and voluntary associations. The University Bookman, the Center’s main publication and the country’s oldest conservative review of books, reaches a national and growing audience. Due to the increased interest in the thought of Russell Kirk and the tradition he represents, the Center recently expanded its online resources and added a new initiative, “Kirk on Campus,” which brings the depth and breadth of conservative principles to college students. Together these programs invigorate a living heritage of learning, faith, and ordered liberty. 

This year, the Center is launching a 25th-anniversary campaign to raise $250,000 towards its operating and program expenses. The majority of the Center’s annual revenue comes from generous donors and the Center would not exist without their commitment to the Permanent Things. We ask you to consider joining one of the Kirk Center’s new donor member Circles to sustain the historic place and vital programs of the Russell Kirk Center–the home of the conservative intellectual tradition in America.

Sir Roger Scruton once wrote of Russell Kirk:  

“He was the conscience of modern America

just as Burke was the conscience of Enlightenment Britain.”

Support Our 25th Anniversary Campaign

In this 25th year, we invite you to join with us to conserve and enliven those enduring norms and principles which Dr. Kirk called the Permanent Things. Please consider a gift as a member of one of the following Circles to support our mission and educational programs. 

All donors will receive our twice-yearly print newsletter, Permanent Things, as well as a monthly email update from Annette Kirk. As a token of our appreciation, Circle members will also receive an associated gift which is only available through the Kirk Center.

For gifts from $250-500.

Receive our gift of the new e-book of five Kirk essays, only for the Center donors

For gifts from $500-2,500.

Receive the e-book plus a 25th-anniversary RKC bookmark. Based on Russell Kirk’s personal bookplate, this leather bookmark is handmade by a bookbinder in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For gifts from $2,500-5,000.

Receive all previous level’s gifts, plus a recognition certificate and inclusion in the Kirk Center’s End Of Year Report.

For gifts from $5,000-25,000.

Receive all previous level’s gifts, as well as a copy of The Roots of American Order, signed by Annette Kirk.

For gifts above $25,000.

For an extraordinary donation of $25,000, all of the above Circles’ benefits.

In addition, your name will be inscribed on a plaque to be displayed in the Russell Kirk library.