Museums Courting Young Donors Find Big Generational Shift

Officials at museums of all sizes are worried that young people aren’t prepared to support them with gifts and patronage and are not equipped to assume leadership roles, reports a New York Times piece that is part of a special section on museums.

Baby boomers have more than two-thirds of disposable income in the United States, but millennials have fare less, and their interests lie more in giving to nonprofits focused on education, the environment, and international aid than with the arts.

Younger people also have less interest in giving to long-term capital campaigns, which seem like “dead money” to them, said Maureen Robinson, a member of a consortium of museum officials called the Museum Group.

Noted Kaywin Feldman, director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: “We’re not just talking about replacing one generation with another generation. We’re talking about a new generation that behaves so differently than the last one.”

The section includes more than 20 stories, including pieces on exhibits with video games, smartphone apps, and other interactive features, cultural treasures rediscovered in museum storage rooms, revenue-generating efforts of museums that no longer rely on donations, and crowd funding as a source of funds to pay for exhibits and to stay afloat.