Friends of Notre-Dame De Paris Inc

Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris is the official 501(c)(3) charity leading the international fundraising efforts to rebuild and restore Notre-Dame Cathedral.

After the fire, there was an overwhelming outpouring of support from the international community, including pledges totaling in the hundreds of millions over the duration of the reconstruction. Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris raised $10.6 million in 2019 from more than 10,500 donors in the US and in more than 50 countries outside France.

But there is still much work to be done. The reconstruction timeline and full budget needed will be finalized in 2021. Before the end of the reconstruction, we will also need to create an endowment that will help fund the maintenance of Notre-Dame Cathedral and avoid further decay.

Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris is the registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization leading the international collaboration to support the rebuilding of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Our small staff works with very low organizational overhead and our priority is to fund the rebuilding and the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

We have strong partnerships with the Archdiocese of Paris and with Fondation Notre-Dame in France, and we work in close cooperation with the Public Agency in charge of the preservation and the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, which was created after the fire within the French Ministry of Culture to lead and manage the reconstruction works.

Before reconstruction efforts could begin, initial assessments were carried out to examine the extent of the damage.

Then came the Safety Phase, which began in the summer of 2019, to secure the structure of the cathedral and prevent further damage.

Safety works included:

Installing a tarp above the vaults to protect from rain
Lead decontamination
Fortifying the north, south and west gables, especially to protect the 3 large rose windows
Fortifying the most damaged pillars of the nave
Reinforcing the flying buttresses
Wrapping and protecting the gargoyles and other sculptural elements of the north and south towers
Removing burnt and melted scaffolding that had previously surrounded the spire

Next:
Rebuilding Notre-Dame's spire
Rebuilding Notre-Dame's roof
Restoring the great organ that was damaged during the fire
Restoring flying buttresses
...