For more than a century, philanthropy has sustained US museums. But as wealthy, older donors make way for a younger, less engaged generation, Julia Halperin finds arts organisations are facing a funding crisis.
There is a saying in the museum world: “There is always a job in development.” But for the first time, the industry is entertaining a future in which that once failsafe job of raising money for an art institution may not be so secure after all.
While museums need more money than ever, the traditional philanthropic model is no longer one they can rely on. The rising generations are not interested in supporting these institutions the way their parents did—and the prospect of dwindling donations is keeping arts leaders up at night.
For more than a century, US museums have been sustained by donors with a very particular idea of what philanthropy looks like. “It used to be that one of the hallmarks of becoming a community leader was giving to bedrock institutions where you live—the local food bank, museum, orchestra,” says Catherine Crystal Foster, a vice-president at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Contributions from private donors typically account for the largest share of museums’ operating revenue (around 40%, on average, in 2016), according to the American Alliance of Museums.
But younger generations have a very different relationship to both philanthropy and the arts...Keep reading on The Arts Newspaper.
There is a saying in the museum world: “There is always a job in development.” But for the first time, the industry is entertaining a future in which that once failsafe job of raising money for an art institution may not be so secure after all.
While museums need more money than ever, the traditional philanthropic model is no longer one they can rely on. The rising generations are not interested in supporting these institutions the way their parents did—and the prospect of dwindling donations is keeping arts leaders up at night.
For more than a century, US museums have been sustained by donors with a very particular idea of what philanthropy looks like. “It used to be that one of the hallmarks of becoming a community leader was giving to bedrock institutions where you live—the local food bank, museum, orchestra,” says Catherine Crystal Foster, a vice-president at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Contributions from private donors typically account for the largest share of museums’ operating revenue (around 40%, on average, in 2016), according to the American Alliance of Museums.
But younger generations have a very different relationship to both philanthropy and the arts...Keep reading on The Arts Newspaper.