BEAUNE, FRANCE.- Benefactor Travel by Hamilton Fitzjames has been creating art-focused travel programs for the benefactors of America’s most important museums for almost 20 years and things have never been busier. As an important arm of the Development Department, donor travel has had an extraordinary boom during the past 5 years and despite the economy it has shown little evidence of tapering off.

Benefactor Travel’s CEO Thomas Hamilton recently noted: “The smartest museum directors understand that this is NOT the time to put donor travel or special events on hold. Now is the time to work harder than ever to show important benefactors that the museum cares. In this economic environment, museums need to keep their important donors close. There is a lot of competition out there now for the same philanthropic dollars and the arts need to shout to be heard. In many cases, patrons will have to decide which of their previous causes they can continue to support and they need to be constantly reminded of why they support you. This is a very “Darwinian moment”. If you care about your important supporters, you need to show it in clear, positive and concrete ways. If you retreat into a hole in an attempt to survive, when you come back out your membership base will be greatly diminished.”

To accommodate the economic times, some museum clients are scaling back on the length of their travel programs and specifically choosing destinations in Europe and the UK where the $US has gained 25% against the euro and 40% against the British Pound in the past few months.

Other museums, sensing that their members are tiring of the “financial crisis mentality” and firmly believing that the seeds for economic recovery are already planted have planned their typical high-level programs for the fall of 2009 and throughout 2010 in order to be prepared for the inevitable demand.

But the important point is that they are very much still traveling for development purposes.

Athlyn Fitz-James, President of Benefactor Travel points out: “A museum travel program is such a positive experience. The director, curators and development staff get relaxed time with their important benefactors, it builds solidarity with the museum, highlights the collections and educates. Another huge plus of course is that it doesn’t cost the institution a penny nor take up their time. We handle the entire workload so museum staff can concentrate on other tasks. It’s a win-win situation with no risk and lots of rewards.”