Discovery Gateway in red due to lack of donations
Children's museum officials said they've just asked too much from donors. The Discovery Gateway had to beg and plead for $7.5 million to receive a county matching bond of $15 million just to build the museum.
But now that it's built, nobody wants to chip in for its operations.
"You have to let some of your funders breathe a little bit," said Victoria Bernier, the museum's chief financial officer.
Salt Lake County residents in November 2003 voted for the $15 million children's museum bond by a wide margin. But to receive that funding, museum officials had to raise $7.5 million in matching funds.
Big names signed on to raise that $7.5 million, like Larry H. Miller and US Bank's Utah market president Damon Miller.
Now big names are hard to come by.
No companies signed on to sponsor the museum's latest exhibit "Sesame Street Presents: The Body."
"We expected it to be well-received by businesses ... and didn't receive the response we anticipated," Bernier said.
Discovery Gateway recently hired development director Leslie Reberg to ramp up fundraising efforts. Reberg knows she has a huge task ahead, as the museum needs to raise $750,000 in the next 90 days — not to break even, but to remain $373,000 in the hole.
She said she has met with "10 excellent prospects" and said at least half will likely donate big bucks soon. The museum is also setting up a contract sponsorship network, and is constantly ranking the prospective donor list.
"We're not taking no for an answer right now," Reberg said.
Katie McCarthy, the Salt Lake County Council's fiscal analyst, called the museum's goals "aggressive," considering Discovery Gateway only generated $481,000 in the first half of the year.
The museum ended up about $50,000 in the hole after the 2007 fiscal year. And if the museum is in the red in June, the Discovery Gateway will be in default of its contract with the county. If that happens, the county could either hire another operator to run the facility, run it in house, or close it.
No matter what happens, the County Council will keep a close eye on the museum, as officials must make monthly reports to one of the council's subcommittees.
"It was concerning today," said Council Chairman Michael Jensen. "We're very cautiously optimistic they will be able to reduce their shortfall. We'll clearly be watching them closely."
Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, who is an active supporter of Discovery Gateway, said, "There was a period of time with adjustment to development and somehow the eyes weren't on the ball and should have been." The museum went about nine months without hiring a development director, a position in charge of soliciting donations.
"I hope that the bottom has been hit and we're kinda working our way up," Wilson said.
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
Recent comments
Title Should Read: "Children's Museum in Red Due to Poor...
Executive Failure | April 16, 2008 at 11:47 a.m.
It's a bad organization all the way around. The senior management...
not suprised | April 16, 2008 at 8:56 a.m.
The other problem is how much money they charge to get into the place...
Bud Dickman | April 16, 2008 at 3:24 a.m.
