Museums turn to virtual galas to fill critical fundraising gaps
For New York City’s museums, Fall gala season looks different this year.
As museums face declining revenue from reduced ticket, gift shops, and cafes sales from Covid-19 precautions, they are turning to virtual galas to raise funds they need to keep running. Typically, a small- to mid-sized museum with an annual revenue of anywhere from $1 million to $12 million might raise 10–25% of that year’s revenue from a single in-person gala. Museums are hoping that virtual fundraising events on Zoom and Youtube will fill holes in their budget. Still, they worry that these online fundraisers will fail short of their in-person events.
“It’s very stressful,” says Rebecca Brickman, Director of Development at The Drawing Center, a museum and exhibition space in SoHo.
In 2018, the Drawing Center raised $521,000 from its annual gala, which made up 24% of that year’s revenue, according to the museum’s 990 filing, the public tax form filed by nonprofits.
This year, Brickman says the 2020 gala was originally planned for April and ticket sales began in January. Ultimately it became a virtual gala, consisting of pre-recorded speeches and footage of the museum posted on Youtube. The virtual gala earned a net revenue of roughly $477,000 after the museum paid $35,000 to a video production team, according to Brickman.
Gregory Witkowski, a Senior Lecturer in Nonprofit Management Programs at Columbia University, says both fees for services and philanthropic donations are important for a nonprofit’s operating revenue.
“[This year], their entire fees for service model has fallen apart,” Witkowski says, leaving museums reliant on donations.
Some museums transforming their in-person galas into virtual ones have set lower fundraising targets that normal.
The Museum of Art and Design usually relies on its annual MAD Ball to raise about $1.5 million, according to Terry Skoda, the Deputy Director of Institutional Advancement at the museum. This year, the virtual event took place on Oct. 15, and met its reduced funding goal of $800,000 according to Skoda.
Greg Quiroga, a San Francisco-based fundraising events consultant, says virtual fundraisers do not typically raise as much money as traditional ones.
“The biggest challenge is that you have a different form of interaction with your attendees,” Quiroga says. “All somebody has to do is click a different tab or look at a different device or even get up and walk away from their computer.”
The Noguchi Museum has also reduced the fundraising goal for its Nov. 16 gala from $525,000 to $450,000, according to Melissa Gatz, Director of Individual Giving and Events at the museum.
“It is a critical event to our fundraising efforts,” says Jennifer Lorch, the museum’s Deputy Director. However, she also says it is unclear whether people will be inclined to give as much as they have in the past.
“There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and a lot of different priorities that people may have,” Lorch says. “Hopefully it will be a success, but I don’t know.”
