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L.M. Montgomery Institute looking for kindred spirits — with cash

Next year, the world – or mainly just Canada and Japan, perhaps – will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Anne of Green Gables. But the L.M. Montgomery Institute in P.E.I. might not be ready to party.

The group, which was established in 1993 to honour and promote Lucy Maud and to be a hub for research, initially received a three-year grant from the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada. Later funding came from the Macdonald Stewart Foundation and the telecommunications company Aliant.

In June 2004, Japan’s Imperial Highness Princess Takamodo became the Institute’s “international patron.” Furthermore, a long list of scholars, authors, and international figures – including Adrienne Clarkson and Jane Urquhart – grace its committees and board.

But the money seems to have stopped flowing in, according to CBC News Online.

Funding sources have dried up over the years, and the L.M. Montgomery Institute has struck a committee to try to source new ones.

“There is kind of this feeling that, you know, that there will always be funding there just because it’s so exciting and so great, how could there not be money?” Simon Lloyd, chair of the L.M. Montgomery Institute Committee told CBC News.

Lloyd added that he is confident they’ll be able to find enough funds to keep the lights on, so it’s not time to panic yet. Quillblog humbly suggests turning to the pages of Montgomery’s beloved tomes for fundraising ideas – Anne Shirley was pretty good at getting out of scrapes, after all.

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