LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles announced today that in less than ten months, it has met and exceeded its goal of raising the museum’s endowment to an historic high of over $100,000,000, thereby securing independence as the only public museum in Los Angeles dedicated solely to collecting and exhibiting contemporary art. Building on this overwhelming expression of support and commitment to the future of the museum, fundraising continues with the next goal to raise the endowment to $150,000,000.

In Spring 2013 the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to launch an unprecedented endowment campaign to preserve the museum’s heritage and protect its place among the most important contemporary art museums in the world. The museum met and exceeded its fundraising goal to more than quadruple its endowment. The museum continues to have no debt on its balance sheet and is financially stronger than ever. The entire Board of Trustees of the museum, under the leadership of David Johnson and Maria Bell, has been key to this success. Also integral to the campaign’s success were campaign co-chairs Eugenio Lopez, Vice Chair of the Board and Jeffrey Soros, President Emeritus of the Board, President of the Board Fred Sands, Vice Chair of the Board Lillian Lovelace, in-coming co-chairs Maurice Marciano and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz, as well as Interim Director Maria Seferian who has led and continues to lead the museum through a critical period as it works to conclude its search for a permanent director.

“With the help of the entire MOCA board and a worldwide community of supporters, MOCA has emerged from a pivotal phase to secure a sustainable financial future for the first time in its history,” said David Johnson, Co-Chair of MOCA’s Board of Trustees. “This achievement reinforces our belief that MOCA’s strength is critical to the independence and integrity of contemporary art and to the support of artists. We are grateful to our Board and the community and Interim Director Maria Seferian for achieving this transformative goal.”

“With a renowned permanent collection and a Board of committed philanthropists, MOCA has secured its place in the international museum landscape,” said Maria Bell, Co-Chair of MOCA’s Board of Trustees. “On the cusp of new leadership, it is with great pride that we say MOCA is poised for the stability and prosperity that will enable the continuation of its cutting-edge programs into its next chapter and beyond.”

In Summer 2013, Mr. Johnson’s and Ms. Bell’s terms as Co-Chairs of MOCA’s Board of Trustees would have expired, but the Board of Trustees asked them to continue through the closure of the $100 million endowment campaign. Having successfully closed the campaign, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Bell will step down effective January 14, when Maurice Marciano and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz will assume the roles of Co-Chairs of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Johnson and Ms. Bell will become Chairs Emeriti.

In addition to closing the first phase of the Museum’s endowment campaign and launching the next phase of this campaign, key accomplishments at MOCA over the last five years, under the leadership most recently of Jeffrey Deitch, include the engagement of new and diverse audiences through the presentation of more than 60 monographic, thematic and traveling exhibitions including among others critically acclaimed and award-winning exhibitions Urs Fischer, Blues for Smoke, The Painting Factory: Abstraction after Warhol, Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949-1962, Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, Cai Guo-Qiang: Sky Ladder, Art in the Streets, The Artist’s Museum, and Dan Graham: Beyond; the founding of MOCAtv, the first contemporary art video channel on YouTube, developed as a digital extension of the museum’s education and exhibition programming and which has attracted almost 6 million views since launch in 2012; the creation of new and innovative arts education programs, steering the museum through a series of leadership changes, putting into place new financial and operational controls and policies, and actively developing the museum’s board with the recruitment of new trustees from Los Angeles and internationally, all of whom are supporters of contemporary art.

“With the future of this great contemporary art museum now secure, we will continue to support and protect the institution further with a committed board of trustees that I am honored and excited to chair with fellow co-chair Lilly Tartikoff Karatz and to work with Board President Fred Sands,” said Maurice Marciano, incoming Co-chair of the MOCA Board of Trustees. “Both Lilly and I are grateful for the dedication and tenacity that David and Maria have demonstrated stewarding the museum and leading this historic campaign to secure a healthy and vibrant future for MOCA in Los Angeles and internationally.”

“I am inspired and honored to chair the board with co-chair Maurice Marciano. This is an historic time for MOCA - the level of support from members of the museum’s board and from major art patrons from around the world to secure MOCA’s future as a dedicated contemporary art museum is remarkable and growing,” said Lilly Tartikoff Karatz, incoming Co-Chair of the MOCA Board of Trustees. “We will continue the successes achieved and thank former co-chairs Maria Bell and David Johnson for their leadership and commitments to bring MOCA to a position of stability and independence that it has never had before.”

“We are delighted that MOCA’s Board will be led by Maurice and Lilly and are very confident that the museum will continue to achieve both creative success and financial stability under their leadership,” said Mr. Johnson and Ms. Bell.

Overwhelming support for the museum includes generous commitments from MOCA Board members and leading contemporary art patrons from around the world.

MOCA’s Spring 2014 exhibition program includes the presentation of the highly-anticipated and international homecoming retrospective Mike Kelley opening March 31 through July 28, 2014 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.