Milwaukee Art Museum

THE PHILANTHROPY 400 – No. 256
(Table of Contents)

Year founded: 1888

What it does: Operates a museum with a permanent collection of 20,000 works, with a focus on European art from the late Middle Ages to the present, 19th- and 20th-century American and German art, and American decorative arts

Number of staff members: 130, including 6 fund raisers

Spending on fund raising: $557,200

Largest single gift in 1997: $10-million from Harry and Betty Quadracci, owners of Quad Graphics, the largest printing firm in Wisconsin. Betty Quadracci is a museum trustee.

Location: Milwaukee

World-Wide Web: http://www.mam.org

How Milwaukee Art Museum reached the top: The museum’s capital campaign to raise $50-million for an expansion was promoted to potential donors as part of a larger effort to inject new life into downtown, particularly the waterfront area, where the museum is located. Fund raisers at the museum said residents responded well to the bold design of the expansion by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, particularly the louvered wings jutting out over Lake Michigan that enclose a reception hall. ”It’s very daring for Milwaukee,’’ says Stephanie Ackerman, director of planned and major gifts. The speediness of the campaign — most of the $50-million was raised in two years — was another motivating factor. ”The fact that this was not going to be drawn out over 10 years inspired people,’’ says Lucia Petrie, the museum’s director of development.

Biggest fund-raising challenge: As is the case with many non-profit institutions, the museum is especially dependent on funds raised during its annual campaign — unrestricted funds that keep the facility operating. ”The difficulty is restating that case every year,’’ says Ms. Petrie. ”It’s not a very glamorous thing, although it’s very important to us.’’ This year, she says, the museum is borrowing a successful strategy it used in its capital campaign — holding a series of small luncheons for donors and potential donors. The first luncheon, held last month, was sold out, and there is already a waiting list for upcoming luncheons. ”The question,’’ says Ms. Petrie, ”is whether we’ll be able to use the same strategy again next year. Probably not.’’

Fund-raising climate for arts groups: Museums on the Philanthropy 400 list saw an increase of 28.3 per cent in contributions in 1997, and other arts groups saw donations rise by 50.8 per cent. Fund raisers for such groups attributed part of that gain to successful capital campaigns, as well as support for educational arts programs, especially for children. ”There’s definitely a shift toward children’s causes,’’ says John Bernstein, vice-president for development at the New York Botanical Garden, which recently opened a new educational center for kids. Many arts groups have also benefited by becoming more aggressive in forging marketing deals with corporations that want publicity in exchange for their support.

Quality Counts With Donors

”The appeal of museums and, really, all the arts, is the standards of quality that they present. In our lives today, when everything tends to be so homogenized, a living artist’s work or a real performance is unique. It is a link of humanity, one to one, that really makes all the arts important, and our donors understand that.’’
— Lucia Petrie, Director of Development