News

Annual Donation Drive 2026

The BTS Annual Donation Drive is our biggest fundraiser of the year. Our goal is to raise $35K by April 11.

• If every BTS member donated just $35.28, we’d easily hit this goal.

• If every Facebook follower donated just $5.83, we’d easily hit this goal.

Can you help us?

Any amount is deeply appreciated and will help support and sustain our good work.  

In addition to covering our largest ongoing expenses (keeping two historic houses in good shape and accessible to visitors and paying our wonderful staff), a portion of donations of $200 or more will go toward this year’s important goal: ‍

“Beloved Books Outreach”

We are ready to literally get the books into more readers’ hands and build partnerships to help us spread the good word of Betsy-Tacy – and we have SO MANY ideas for how to do this! One thing that will be especially helpful is having individual editions of the books to work with, rather than the larger combo volumes. The challenge is that – with the exception of the first four books – individual versions are no longer being printed.  

This is where you come in! With your donation of $200 or more, tell us which title (or titles – you may name up to three) is your absolute favorite. We’ll purchase “your” books from online booksellers and then use them in our planned outreach: engaging elementary-school teachers and homeschooling families in Mankato, reaching out to libraries in states where we have few members, stocking Little Free Libraries, etc. etc.

Each book we share will contain a sticker with info about the Betsy-Tacy Society – and you can personalize your donation as much as you’d like via this Google Form. We’ll add as much info as you want to share to the sticker inside your chosen book.  

But wait — there’s MORE!  

✮ All donors will receive our charming virtual “I Donated!” stickers (designed by Board Veep Shelley Harris), which they can use on their own social media pages. Donors will also be acknowledged on our website and entered in a drawing to win our newest postcard set, featuring eight Betsy-Tacy illustrations.

‍✮ Anyone who donates $25 or more will receive a lovely PDF of “Silver Hat,” a short story by Delos, mentioned in Betsy’s Wedding!

✮ Anyone who donates $50 or more will receive the short story PLUS a link to our charming new YouTube video: “Onion Sandwiches at Betsy’s House”!

✮ Anyone who donates $100 or more will get the short story! the video link! PLUS a brand-new gorgeously formatted PDF excerpt from “Living with Writing,” culled from pages of an unfinished how-to piece written by Maud!

✮ Anyone who donates $200 or more will get the short story! the video link! the excerpt! PLUS an opportunity to be part of our targeted “Beloved BT Books” outreach as described above!

✮ Anyone who donates $500 or more will get the short story! the video link! the excerpt! the outreach opportunity! PLUS “A Betsy-Tacy Photo Album,” 20 pages of photos chosen from the MHL archives and arranged in a beautiful PDF!

✮ Anyone who donates $1,000 or more will get the short story! the video link! the excerpt! the outreach opportunity! the album! PLUS their own engraved paver in the walkway at Betsy’s House!  

You can donate online here.

• If you’d prefer to receive none of these items, that is not a problem. Please let us know – we have a fun plan for what to do with “your” incentives.

• If you’d rather send a check, make it payable to the Betsy-Tacy Society and send it to 332 Center Street, Mankato, MN 56001 (please write “Donation Drive 2026” on the memo line).

• The BTS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and your donation may be tax-deductible.
  We are registered with several donation-matching programs. See if your workplace will match your donation!

• If you need more time to pull together your donation, just let us know that your gift will be delayed, and we’ll take it from there.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Thank you for your support!

Celebrate Maud’s Birthday at the Houses!

Maud Hart was born after midnight on April 25 (which is another way of saying . . . April 26!!), but she was told for most of her life that her birthday was the 25th, the same as her beloved Aunt Maud’s. Who are we to argue with tradition?! Please join us for some birthday fun at the Betsy-Tacy Houses on April 25!

Each one-hour block (1–2, 2–3) is packed with lively activities:
▪️ Self-guided tours of Betsy’s House
▪️ A Scavenger Hunt at Betsy’s House
▪️ Shopping at Tacy’s House
▪️ Refreshments at Tacy’s House
▪️ A craft project at Tacy’s House
▪️ Weather permitting: outdoor games
▪️ An excerpt from the "sand store" chapter of Betsy-Tacy read aloud
▪️ A serenade of songs from the era by a local trio

We'll wrap up each hour by singing "Happy Birthday" to Maud – our beloved writer who taught us all 86 years ago that the BEST present is the present of a friend.

You are welcome to drop in, but we strongly recommend buying tickets ahead of time because space is so limited. Tickets are $10 for the first person in your party and $5 for every other person.

We hope to see you soon!

We worked with The Creative Company on a 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐲-𝐓𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 called Betsy-Tacy for Small Children.

With beautifully colored illustrations (the originals by Lois Lenski!) and a simple adaptation of Maud's words and stories, this hardcover edition will captivate the youngest readers and serve as an early introduction to the world of Betsy-Tacy.

We are simply thrilled with this sweet new book, and we hope you – and your littlest friends – love it too.

Purchase your copy today!

p.s. The subtitle is an homage to Lois Lenski's “Small" characters (Farmer Small, Papa Small, Engineer Small, Pilot Small, etc.)!

Our Amazon Wish List

Want to be part of the Betsy-Tacy Houses and support our work in a very concrete and tangible way? Check out our Wish List on Amazon.com and see the various items we’d love to receive. (Many years ago, a member donated a new vacuum to Tacy’s House, and every time she visits she checks to see how “her” vacuum is doing! 🤣) We update this list regularly. Thank you for your support!

—> Looking for older News stories? They can be found here.

Events

Click here to see our 2026 Events Calendar.

Note: “Deep Valley Time” (i.e., Central Time) is our default when listing an event. To be sure that you’ve correctly calculated the time difference for your location, we suggest using an online world clock such as this one.