BALTIMORE.- The Trustees of The Baltimore Museum of Art today announced a $65 million philanthropic campaign—the most ambitious in the Museum’s 95-year history. To date, $40 million has been raised during the silent phase, placing the campaign more than halfway to its goal.

In A New Light: The Campaign for The Baltimore Museum of Art was announced at the Museum’s annual meeting by Campaign Chair and former BMA Board Chair Charles W. Newhall III. Funds raised by the campaign will increase the Museum’s endowment and support physical transformations such as reopening the BMA’s grand front entrance.

"The time is now," said Mr. Newhall. "In the BMA’s long and proud history, there’s never been a moment like this. Public appreciation for the Museum is at an all time high, with a growing and diverse audience now embracing the BMA as never before, thanks to free admission. With this campaign, we have the opportunity to secure the Museum’s future and ensure its vibrancy and relevancy for generations to come."

Comprehensive Campaign
The following six priority areas comprise the five-year comprehensive campaign, which concludes in 2012:

Endowment with a goal of $30 million goal in operating endowment to support core artistic and educational programs and new initiatives;
Immediate Impact with a goal of $5 million to support new initiatives during the Campaign;
Capital with a goal of $15 million to provide support for projects including reopening the grand front entrance and renovating select galleries;
Annual Support with a goal of $15 million to increase the level of support from Annual Fund gifts and sponsorships;
Planned Gifts to increase endowment through bequests and other planned gifts; Gifts of Art to enhance the collection.

In the initial phase of the campaign, the focus has been on increasing the Museum’s endowment from approximately $70 million to $100 million, and raising immediate impact funds to support new initiatives during the campaign. To date, $29.1 million has been raised in endowment, which is 97% of the goal.

"This is a landmark day for The Baltimore Museum of Art. It is our duty to carry on the amazing legacy of the founders, benefactors, and art patrons who came before us and made this the great Museum what it is today,‖ said Stiles T. Colwill, president of the Board of Trustees and Co-Chair of the campaign. ―This campaign will greatly enhance our capacity to make this Museum, Baltimore, and the entire region thrive in the 21st century."

Fundraising to Date
In addition to the $28.6 million raised for endowment, $4 million has been raised in immediate impact funds, and $5 million has been raised through the Annual Fund and sponsorships. More than 80 percent of the funds given and pledged to date have been contributed by members of the BMA Board of Trustees. "The amazing success of this campaign during its initial phase is unprecedented for the BMA. We are immensely grateful to our Trustees for their remarkable commitment and unparalleled generosity," said BMA Director Doreen Bolger. "With such tremendous leadership, this campaign will enable us to achieve our greatest dreams—transforming the Museum into a more lively and exciting cultural destination that brings visitors of all ages and backgrounds together."

Two very early gifts set the pace for this campaign. In 2005, then Trustee Chair Suzanne F. Cohen gave the BMA a $2 million endowment gift—-$1 million to support free admission and $1 million to support contemporary art exhibitions. In 2007, the BMA received the largest single gift in its history: $10 million to endow the American Wing from long-time supporter and Honorary Trustee Dorothy McIlvain Scott.

Currently, there are nine gifts of $1 million or more. These gifts include:
$5 million from an anonymous donor to endow the Director’s Office;
$3 million from Amy and Charles W. Newhall III,
$2 million of which is dedicated to educational uses of technology; and $2 million endowment gift from the Hecht-Levi Foundation to support the on-going care, interpretation, and programming in the BMA’s Levi Sculpture Garden, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer.

"As a child I grew up loving this Museum and over the years I have watched it grow into an incredible community asset,‖ said BMA Trustee and Campaign Co-Chair Sandra Levi Gerstung. ―I’m thrilled that the campaign will enable the BMA to continue to play an important role in the lives of so many other visitors—today as well as tomorrow."

CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES
Endowment ($30 million)
A strong endowment ensures an institution’s stability and viability―and demonstrates the community’s commitment to its long-range fiscal well-being. By significantly increasing the endowment, the BMA will have the resources to:

sustain free admission so that everyone has access to great works of art;
organize more ground-breaking exhibitions such as Matisse: Painter as Sculptor, which was hailed by critics across the country;
expand community engagement by forging new partnerships with educational and civic organizations;
utilize digital technologies to bring its collections to people around the world; create a Center for Matisse Studies, capitalizing on the largest Matisse collection in the world and the growing body of BMA-generated scholarship; and
attract and retain talented staff.

Immediate Impact ($5 million)
Immediate impact funds will underwrite projects and programs specially designed to engage the public and raise the BMA’s national profile during the campaign, such as free admission, imaginative exhibitions, and new technology initiatives such as the first audio tour of the BMA’s collection, which will be launched in January 2009.

Capital ($15 million)
Another major priority is raising $15 million for capital improvements, making the BMA more dynamic, welcoming, and memorable. When the campaign is completed, visitors will be welcomed at the Museum's beautiful front entrance for the first time in 25 years. This new "front door" will transform the Museum’s terrace steps into a signature gathering place. Capital funds will also support creative reinstallations of the BMA’s outstanding collections of American, African, and Contemporary Art.

In 2005, the BMA completed a 20-year architectural master plan designed by Baltimore-based Ayers Saint Gross, the first to be developed since the original master plan by the great American architect John Russell Pope in 1929. The new plan was designed to provide an overview of renovation and expansion opportunities to enhance the BMA as a cultural asset for the region.

Annual Support ($15 million)
Throughout the campaign, it is also a goal to increase the level of support from Annual Fund gifts and sponsorships. These funds will be critical for the BMA to maintain the best possible environment for visitors and works of art.

Campaign for Planned Gifts
Bequests, annuities, trusts, and other planned gifts are essential for the future of the Museum. To date, more than $36 million in endowment has been raised through planned gifts.

Campaign for Art
The BMA’s collection of 90,000 works of art was formed through the early generosity of such community leaders as Mary Frick Jacobs, Jacob Epstein, Robert Garrett, Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie May, and many other Baltimoreans whose generosity enriched the city’s cultural landscape. As the BMA approaches its 100th Anniversary in 2014, donors are being asked to continue this tradition by committing great works of art.

In just the past two years the Museum has received 524 gifts to the collection, including promised gifts of paintings by Pierre Bonnard, Winslow Homer, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Motherwell; a significant group of prints and drawings by Henri Matisse; illustrated books by contemporary artists; African art; English Regency furniture; and Maryland furniture and silver.