It Takes a Village: Cultural Community Fuels Fiscal Year

Children on a field trip tour the gorgeous dresses seen in Painted by Hand: The Textiles of Patricia Michaels at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. After learning about Michaels’ career, one student dreams of his own future in art or fashion. Another feels pride in her family’s Taos Pueblo culture, the same pueblo that Michaels calls home. Both children experience the totality of efforts that brought the exhibition about—which extend far beyond the museum walls.

“Supporting the life-changing experiences that our exhibitions and education programs provide takes a village,” says Jamie Clements, president and CEO of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation. “The Foundation cultivates private support for our four museums, eight historic sites and Office of Archaeological Studies, but we also assist with advocacy in the state legislature, and our retail wing operates the Museum Shops. There are many people in this village, and we have one goal in mind—to advance the extraordinary work of our cultural partners.”

In collaboration with the cultural community, the Foundation raised $11.4 million in earned and contributed revenues in the 2023-24 fiscal year (July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024), meeting or exceeding its goals in many vital areas:
• Direct support for exhibitions, education and public programs totaled
$2.7 million, surpassing anticipated revenues by 58%.
• The Legacy Society realized $1.3 million in planned gifts.
• Forty-one division endowments valued at $33 million exceeded goals
by 40%.
• Membership dues generated $1.7 million from 9,000 households,
bypassing its goal by 4%.
• The Annual Fund raised $253,000— 27% beyond expectations.
• The Museum Shops grossed $3.7 million, continuing a trajectory of
growth begun in previous years.
• Licensing grossed $142,266, bringing to market original items inspired
by museum collections.

“Our members are the Foundation,” Clements says. “Membership dues provide up to 40% of our operating revenue. Members support our Annual Fund, which along with membership dues and shops and licensing revenues, allows us to do our work on behalf of the museums, historic sites and OAS.”

The Foundation’s fundraisers, administrators, financial experts and a grants officer cultivate donors, ensure good money management, secure organizational funding, manage membership benefits and oversee day-today operations. Staff also assist our partner institutions with a range of support services, from writing checks for contractors and vendors, to serving as a fiscal agent in grant applications, and more.

Steering the Foundation’s work is a 71-member Board of Trustees, currently chaired by Michael Knight, a retired global financial consultant.
“In our public-private partnership, the Board of Trustees works closely with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, which is responsible for the buildings, operations and staffing of our partner institutions,” Knight explains. “And we work closely with the division directors.”

Knight notes that another layer of oversight comes from the nine-member Board of Regents. Appointed by the governor, these trustees are in
charge of the museum system’s overall mission and collections policy.

As the newly elected board chair, Knight wants to expand the Foundation board’s diversity in terms of race and ethnicity as well as life experience and outlook. “The ideal board candidate has a passion for one or more of the museums, a skill set that we need and an ability to donate,” he says. “What I’m looking for is diversity of thinking.”

Trustees volunteer for standing committees, overseeing such areas as development, finance, the annual audit, and shops and licensing. The
Governance Committee, which identifies potential trustees, tapped Kate Moss six years ago for her deep experience in legislative advocacy and strategy in Washington D.C. As chair of the Advocacy Committee, she leads an army of volunteers in support of the Department of Cultural Affairs, which determines capital outlay requests to the New Mexico State Legislature based on the needs of each division.

“We sit in on those initial meetings and discuss how funds will be used. We’re supported by an outside legislative consultant who really knows the ins and outs of state government,” Moss says. “Then we meet with legislators to continue discussing those details, and we bring additional volunteers to observe public committee hearings. Showing up in numbers is important.” Partnership with the Foundation is important to the work of the Department of Cultural Affairs, which is to ensure that the museums, historic sites and Office of Archaeological Studies serve all New Mexicans, says department secretary Debra Garcia y Griego.

“Through their tireless efforts leading up to and during the legislative session, Foundation trustees and volunteers advocate for support of our efforts on behalf of these vital institutions, which protect and preserve the state’s art, culture and history,” she says.

Ultimately, the philanthropic funds the Foundation raises are what museum directors and curators use to create exhibitions and educational
programming and to support collections acquisitions and care. It all comes together in the indelible impressions that the museums, historic sites and OAS make on schoolchildren and other visitors every day.

“People come from all over the world to experience the work of our cultural partners—whose exhibitions and public programs reflect the art, history and culture of New Mexico and the world,” Clements says. “This has a real impact on the state’s culture and its economy. Everyone associated with the Foundation is responsible for that."

       

This article and images are from the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Member News Magazine.