Diverse Museum Donor Base Shows Changing Cleveland Giving

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s capital campaign to finance its newly finished expansion and renovation demonstrates how wealth and philanthropy have changed in the city in the last half-century, writes The Plain Dealer in one of a series of articles this week on the state of the institution.

Unlike the two previous big cash infusions in the 101-year-old museum’s past, which involved a single donor or handful of donors, the $262-million raised so far in the current, $320-million drive has involved nearly 1,000 individual contributors as well as foundations, corporations, support groups, and the state and federal governments.

“There’s no one hero; no angel donor made this happen,” Fred Bidwell, the museum’s interim director, said of the expansion campaign. “Dozens of people made this happen.”

A $34-million endowment gift from industrialist Leonard C. Hanna Jr., worth $274-million in 2013 dollars, allowed the museum essentially to live for decades off its investment income. That began changing in the late 1980s, when rising expenses and a move by trustees to restrict access to the endowment necessitated a focus on fundraising, which led to more blockbuster exhibitions, amenities for members and donors, and outreach to previously ignored minority communities.