Estate’s Diverse Collections Draw a Variety of Donors to Campaign

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, on 207 acres in San Marino, Calif., looks so

opulent that fund raisers sometimes have trouble convincing potential donors that it needs more money.

“One of the hardest things to explain to people is that the Huntington has financial need,” says George Abdo, vice president for advancement. “This is a grand estate with beautiful grounds and fabulous collections. It looks real rich.”

But the research and educational institution, created almost 90 years ago, says it badly needs to upgrade its buildings and grounds and strengthen its finances. It also wants to complete a long-planned project to build a traditional Chinese garden.

To achieve those goals, the Huntington started the first comprehensive fund-raising campaign in its history two years ago, asking donors to contribute $175-million by 2010.

The result: Private support rose 139 percent in 2005, to $46.3-million, propelling the organization into the Philanthropy 400 rankings for the first time.

Much of the money came from previous donors to the institution, who were able to pick from a menu of projects to support. But the campaign also won contributions for the Chinese garden from a previously untapped donor pool — the large concentration of Chinese-Americans living in the surrounding region.

“As the populations of the San Gabriel Valley and San Marino have become increasingly Chinese, it has given the Huntington a tremendous opening to engage the Chinese community,” Mr. Abdo says.

Art, Rare Books

The Huntington institute was established in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, a wealthy developer, and his wife, Arabella, who donated their Beaux Arts mansion and their collections of art, plants, and rare books and manuscripts.

The eclectic grounds encompass 120 acres of botanical gardens; the Huntington Gallery, which houses a European art collection in the couple’s former home; an extensive library collection; the Lois and Robert F. Erburu Gallery of American art; and the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science.

Among Huntington’s treasures are a 15th-century manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales; early editions of Shakespeare’s works; original letters of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln; and paintings including Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy” and Sir Thomas Lawrence’s “Pinkie.”

But despite those jewels in the crown, Mr. Abdo says, the Huntington suffers from a major structural problem: “The institution has always been underendowed and underfunded.”

When Steven Koblik, former president of Reed College, became president in 2001, he worked with the Board of Trustees to develop a strategic plan to bolster the organization’s long-term financial footing. Mr. Abdo calls Mr. Koblik “a zealot about fund raising,” adding, “He spends a huge amount of his time communicating about the Huntington, telling this story of financial need.”

The strategic plan, adopted in 2003, identified three major goals: Lower the annual percentage the institution took from its endowment, which was running more than 6.5 percent; raise staff salaries, which were frozen from 2000 to 2003, to market rates; and complete several long-deferred maintenance projects.

The following year, the Huntington created its fund-raising campaign, “For Generations to Come — The Campaign for the Huntington.”

It set a goal of $35-million for capital projects, including a complete renovation of the Huntington Gallery to repair water damage and upgrade the building’s mechanical, electrical, and earthquake-protection systems. That project, which began last winter, won its biggest gift so far from the Rose Hills Foundation, in Los Angeles, of $10-million over five years.

The money will also be used to upgrade the Huntington’s water and irrigation systems and the library building’s electrical system.

“The library was built in 1919, with some of the wiring being that old in a building holding a priceless collection of rare materials,” Mr. Abdo notes.

The campaign also hopes to raise $80-million for the Huntington’s endowment so that it can cover 50 percent of the institution’s operating expenses, up from the current 30 percent. Finally, it hopes to raise $60-million in annual gifts, both restricted and unrestricted, or an average of $10-million a year — up from $8.8-million in 2004.

As of last month, the Huntington had raised $104.9-million of the $175-million overall goal — 72 percent of the capital-projects goal, 63 percent of the endowment goal, and 49 percent of the annual-gifts goal. Last year it took only 5.9 percent from the endowment, while a new program to encourage donors to give at least $25,000 a year has lined up 39 households.

Mr. Abdo says the organization’s fund raisers, program staff members, and top executives have succeeded in raising that money by buttonholing board members, major donors, foundations, and regular Huntington visitors.

“We have lots of events, and we have lots of people come to our events,” he says. “Our supporters are very involved in the week-to-week life of the institution.”

He says some donors are attracted by the chance to select which parts of the campaign to support, an approach he says makes sense for an organization that offers three different sets of collections — art, plants, and books.

“If somebody is interested principally in the library, they might not be interested in the garden,” he says. “They may be a book collector and interested in books and manuscripts.”

As one example of how donors were drawn by a specific project, the Huntington’s Web site highlights a donation from Victor and Georganna Willits, longtime donors to the Huntington. They contributed $50,000 to help replace the wiring in the library building at the end of 2005 — a project they saw as a perfect fit because Mr. Willits had worked as a head of maintenance for Procter & Gamble. “That’s right up your alley,” Mrs. Willits is quoted as telling her husband.

Several donors have come forward to endow staff positions, offering a minimum donation of $3-million for senior posts such as the director of art collections and director of the botanical gardens.

The campaign also found a friend in Steve Martin, the actor, who is a collector of American art and in 2005 donated $1-million over five years to support American art exhibitions and collections at the Huntington.

No Money to Carry Out Plans

The Huntington — which features many thematic gardens, including a Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Australian Garden, and Desert Garden — has long wanted to add a traditional Chinese garden to the mix.

“It’s one of the great garden traditions of the world, and it’s missing at the Huntington,” Mr. Abdo says. “We had plans on the books for years, but no money.”

But in 1999, the Huntington received a bequest of $10-million for the garden from Peter Paanakker, a Los Angeles businessman who had served on the organization’s Board of Overseers.

It then began laying plans for the second-largest Chinese Garden outside of China. Following the classical Suzhou style, it will occupy 12 acres that will include a lake, bridges, and eight pavilions, and be made with imported Chinese materials, including sculptural rocks, handcrafted lattice windows, and roof tiles.

The fund-raising effort for the garden has been aided by four Chinese-Americans who have joined the Huntington’s Board of Overseers in the last few years — and helped open doors to other Chinese-American donors in the Los Angeles area.

“We initiated our fund-raising efforts focusing principally on folks not previously involved with the Huntington,” Mr. Abdo says.

The Huntington also set up a President’s Council on the Chinese Garden, made up of Chinese-American leaders — including a Board of Overseers member, Paul Zee — to seek major gifts, as well as advise the staff on garden-related programs and construction issues. More than 300 Chinese-American households have contributed about $5.5-million to help build the garden and sponsor educational programs there.

With that success under its belt, Mr. Abdo says the institution now plans to seek other new donors, especially those that already have a connection to the Huntington — for example, the 1,000 volunteers who help maintain the gardens and give tours, the 1,700 postdoctoral scholars who do research in the library every year, and the 25,000 people who make annual donations to be members of the Huntington. “These are all groups that have not been systematically approached,” he says.

The Huntington’s main challenge now will be to maintain donations at their current levels, both for the remainder of the campaign and beyond, Mr. Abdo says. The results for the 2006 fiscal year are already in, and donations from private sources rose to almost $52-million, up $5.6-million from 2005.

“We have been doing exceptionally well in the first two years of our campaign,” he says. “We want to sustain that high level of momentum and commitment from our donors.”

THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, ART COLLECTIONS, AND BOTANICAL GARDENS Mission: Building on the collections of Henry E. Huntington, the organization promotes research and education in the arts, humanities, and botanical sciences. Year charity was founded: 1919 Location: San Marino, Calif. Key officials: Steven Koblik, president. George Abdo, vice president for Advancement. Why it made it onto the list: Donations from private sources jumped 139 percent in 2005, the first year of a six-year $175-million comprehensive fund-raising campaign. The biggest fund-raising challenge ahead: Sustaining the momentum of the campaign’s first two years. Donations From Private Sources (In Millions) 2001 $21.2 2002 $31.5 2003 $22.7 2004 $19.4 2005 $46.3 Where Donations Come From Individuals 50.5% Foundations 48.1% Corporations 1.4% Total $46,309,880