Under the leadership of our first president in 1953, a young journalist named William F. Buckley Jr., the Intercollegiate Studies Institute has been mentoring young men and women to become eloquent defenders of liberty and virtue. When you give $1,000 or more to ISI to educate for liberty, you become a member of the 1953 Society and join an exclusive group of benefactors dedicated to passing on Western civilization and renewing the roots of ordered liberty in America. 

Annual Giving Levels

The Founder’s Circle

$1000 Annually

“Truth withers when freedom dies… and free individualism uninformed by moral value rots at its core and soon brings about conditions that pave the way for surrender to tyranny.”

What is Conservatism? by Frank Meyers, 1964

When you make a single gift of $1000 or more to ISI, you join the Founder’s Circle tier of the 1953 Society. The 1953 Society is an exclusive club of extraordinary ISI supporters like you, and this is the first of the Society’s honorary levels. As a member of the Founder’s circle, you will receive these benefits of 1953 Society membership:

  • A copy of Russell Kirk’s seminal work The Roots of American Order
  • An ISI lapel pin
  • An annual print subscription to Modern Age, the principal quarterly journal of the intellectual right
  • A printed copy of ISI’s Annual Report

The Buckley Society Circle

$10,000 or more annual giving

“I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth.”

Up from Liberalism by William F. Buckley Jr., 1959

When you give $10,000 or more in a single year, to ISI, you join the William F. Buckley Jr. tier of the 1953 Society, named for the great conservative leader who also served as ISI’s first president. At this level you receive the benefits from the Founder’s level plus:

  • An ISI scarf or tie
  • A copy of the Conservative Book of the Year annually
  • An invite to the ISI’s Investor Meeting at Homecoming Weekend
  • Exclusive invitations to other ISI events

The President’s Circle

$25,000 or more annual giving

“A liberal education specifically prepares for the achievement of freedom.”

— Richard Weaver

Society members in the President’s Circle at $25,000 or more will receive all the benefits from the Founder’s and the Buckley level plus:

  • Quarterly President’s Circle Conference Calls
  • Invitations to VIP receptions at all ISI events

The Chairman’s Circle

$50,000 or more annual giving

“Men cannot improve a society by setting fire to it: they must seek out its old virtues, and bring them back into the light.

— Russell Kirk

As a member of the Chairman’s Circle, you will receive all the benefits of the previous levels plus:

  • An annual 1:1 meeting with ISI President Johnny Burtka

Join the 1953 Society!