Your donations are needed and appreciated...

Material donations:

The most important thing that the TSS needs is cave information. Much valuable information has been lost when people quit caving , moved away, or have unfortunately died, especially when their cave-related belongings were lost or tossed, or boxed and lost in unclaimed storage. Irreplaceable material has disappeared, including single-copy unpublished maps, undrafted notes of kilometers of cave surveys, rare and historic photographs and films, cave lead lists, and cave location maps.

Please contact the TSS and pass along any cave-related materials you don't want or need; this will greatly aid the TSS in its mission to preserve and archive information on the caves of Texas.

Rare grotto and caving club newsletters and cave-related books have also been discarded without anyone realizing that these items have substantial value in documenting past cave exploration and research. For instance, the TSS is lacking some of the older newsletters of the Pan American Speleological Society (Edinburg, Texas), the Abilene Area Grotto (Abilene, Texas), and from the Rice Speleological Society (Houston, Texas).

You can help preserve the history and documentation of past cave exploration by donating your unwanted caving-related materials to the TSS. Use this media release form (PDF) to make your donation to the TSS.

Since all material contributions to the TSS are tax-deductible, please include a note estimating the value of your donations. The TSS will promptly mail you a receipt to use for tax purposes.

Monetary donations:

The TSS does not have a membership to support its activities. Publication sales and fees paid by entities for data reports from our archives are the principal source of the organization’s revenue. Printing a publication requires initial expenditures that are recouped over months and sometimes years of sales (which is why we have established a Publication Endowment Fund). Requests for data reports vary in direct proportion to the activity level of development and conservation efforts in the state. For these reasons, monetary donations are welcomed in order to help sustain the TSS’s mission.

All donations to the General Fund of the organization will be used to defray the considerable office expenses involved in acquiring new data, and in maintaining and organizing existing and incoming information. Donations to the Publication Endowment Fund will assure the continued publication of quality Texas caving information by the TSS. All donations are tax deductible and are an important means of preserving the future of the Texas cave database and the TSS mission.

Individuals who contribute more than $500 to the TSS will receive copies of all available TSS publications printed up to the date of their contribution. Sponsors donating at least $1,000 will also receive copies of all TSS reports printed over the ten years following their donations, and sponsors donating more than $2,000 will receive copies of all TSS publications for the remainder of their lives.

The easiest way to donate is to use PayPal to send your contribution from your account or a credit card, in US$. The email is treasurer@texasspeleologicalsurvey.org .

If you don't want to use PayPal, you can write a check to "TSS" and send it to:

Please be sure to indicate whether your donation is intended for either the General Fund (for office and archival expenses) or for the Publications Endowment Fund. Contact the TSS Office manager if you need additional information or have questions regarding TSS donations.