# How does the Harvard Lampoon pay the bills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053 "2018-06-30T16:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Textual\_Assault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@Textual\_Assault](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Textual_Assault)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/1 "2018-06-30T16:34:31Z")
Saw a story about the organization on 60 Minutes and wondered how they pay for the upkeep on their ‘castle’ (taxes/water bills housecleaning and such). going by the 60 Minutes piece, the don’t get much if any advertisers. I suppose they still get royalties from Bored of The Rings. Do they have an endowment from the university or alumni? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/2 "2018-06-30T17:24:51Z")
[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/798078/000114420407064852/v095300\_10ksb.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/798078/000114420407064852/v095300_10ksb.htm) Open it up, hit ctrl-F and enter the search term “Harvard” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/3 "2018-06-30T17:28:42Z")
And this: [https://www.guidestar.org/viewPDF.aspx?PdfSource=0&ein=04-2631286](https://www.guidestar.org/viewPDF.aspx?PdfSource=0&ein=04-2631286) Seriously, that was an easy google. . . ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/4 "2018-06-30T21:17:39Z")
Wait … What? … they pay their bills by giving blow-jobs to all the senior managers at Harvard University … pretty sure I read that in _National Lampoon_ … step-by-step instructions so you can do the same thing where you work … sure fire way to get ahead in life … ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/5 "2018-06-30T22:26:16Z")
I read in one of the _National Lampoon_ memoirs that the NatLamp founders agreed to pay a royalty to the Harvard Lampoon for rights to the name. The royalty extended to all the NatLamp products (like the movies) and eventually grew big enough to pay for the upkeep on the Harvard Lampoon properties and fund a significant endowment. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/6 "2018-07-01T22:40:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I read in one of the _National Lampoon_ memoirs that the NatLamp founders agreed to pay a royalty to the Harvard Lampoon for rights to the name. The royalty extended to all the NatLamp products (like the movies) and eventually grew big enough to pay for the upkeep on the Harvard Lampoon properties and fund a significant endowment. That’s not surprising. The royalties from _Animal House_ alone are probably millions of dollars. It’s so nice that those kids at Harvard finally caught a break! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-harvard-lampoon-pay-the-bills/817053/7 "2018-07-02T03:03:32Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > And this: > > [https://www.guidestar.org/viewPDF.aspx?PdfSource=0&ein=04-2631286](https://www.guidestar.org/viewPDF.aspx?PdfSource=0&ein=04-2631286) > > Seriously, that was an easy google. . . … and provides only a link. Seriously. One of those links seems to indicate that some of the services are provided by a trust company: it’s only income seems to be “contributions”. Presumably the contributions come from the other company, which according to the other link, 10 years ago was promoting National Lampoon IP, and receiving benefits from same.