by Patrick Kerkstra, Inquirer Suburban Staff
Philadelphia Inquirer, October 3, 2000
MERION - News of the Barnes Foundation's financial problems and $85 million
fund-raising campaign is being greeted with concern and guarded optimism in the
artistic and philanthropic communities. The emerging opinion in those circles is
that it will be difficult, but possible, to save the Barnes and its collection
of impressionist art.
Kimberly Camp, the Barnes' executive director, said foundation phones were ringing
constantly - not yet with donors ready to hand over cash, but with potential
contributors asking tough questions about the foundation's finances and its future.
The foundation badly needs a strong start. Part
art-appreciation school, part public gallery, the Barnes could run out of money in
as few as six months, Camp said.
Massive legal spending and rising expenses throughout the 1990s helped bring on the
crisis, but the financial problems also stem from the will of Albert C. Barnes, the
foundation's founder.
Barnes left a $10 million endowment when he died in 1951 but limited its investment
to conservative and low-yielding government securities. Soon, the foundation found its
expenses at least as large as, and recently much larger than, the income generated by
the endowment. The last of the endowment was cashed in last year.
Now, the Barnes is seeking $15 million to fund immediate needs and $70 million
to build long-term stability.
"There's a lot of excitement, but, obviously, we're not there yet," Camp said. "In
this city, people make you prove your mettle. We're up to the challenge."
Fund-raising experts say that challenge is enormous.
Unlike many large cultural institutions, the Barnes has no fund-raising tradition
and thus no established donor base to turn to in a crisis.
Donors often prefer to make lasting contributions - like paying for construction or
funding a new program, experts said. The Barnes needs money for basic bills, such
as utilities and security.
And the Barnes' controversial past - including bitter lawsuits with neighbors and
Lower Merion Township - could scare off potential donors, despite improving relations
with those groups.
"The whiff of controversy especially scares off would-be corporate donors, who
usually love to be affiliated with prestigious cultural institutions but absolutely
hate being associated with a cultural battle," said Tom Riley, director of research
for the Philanthropy Roundtable. "For most of them, controversy, or the fear of
being enmeshed in it, is a deal-breaker."
In its fund-raising materials, the Barnes acknowledges that "in recent years, our
mission has been overshadowed by turmoil."
That frank assessment is coupled with a new openness about its finances.
"What they've done is raised consciousness about the peril that they're in. I
think it remains to be seen how that plays out," said Nancy Burd, regional
director of the Nonprofit Finance Fund in Center City. "They still have to sit
across from a potential donor and convince them, make the case that the institution
should be sustained, should be invested in. It's a tough job."
Camp said she realized the Barnes had many questions to answer before winning
significant financial support.
"It's not lost on us that because of the history of the foundation and the leadership,
that there's a lot of telling of stories and a lot of explaining that has to happen,"
Camp said.
Two themes run through the foundation's fund-raising pitch. The first reminds donors
of the collection's magnificence - the dozens of Renoirs, Picassos, Cezannes and
African sculptures, and hundreds of other pieces in the foundation's small Merion
gallery. The second is a litany of goals met and changes made in recent years.
The Barnes makeover started at the top. Camp came to the foundation in late 1998.
The board of trustees is now led by Bernard C. Watson, a Temple University
presidential scholar and former head of the William Penn Foundation who is
respected in Philadelphia cultural and fund-raising circles. Newly hired finance
and development executives round out the leadership overhaul.
All of this, Riley said, could help the foundation's fund-raising campaign.
"People will take a chance on an organization with quality assets that can make a
convincing case that they have new and improved management," Riley said. "But you
only get one shot to prove it."
All the experts interviewed said they believed donors would be willing to look past
the foundation's troubles if the new management could impress.
"I think everybody considering supporting the Barnes will be looking at the Barnes
of today," said Anne d'Harnoncourt, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Others noted that a serious threat to the collection trumps lingering animosities.
"I really do think people have turned from being angry about the Barnes to being
saddened," Burd said. "That's been my reaction, and it's been the reaction of
people I talked to."
Museum leaders and grant-makers struggled to recall a similar emergency. Many
nonprofit institutions have struggled financially, but few have come as close
to the brink as the Barnes, and fewer still can be easily compared to the
unusual Merion institution.
One could be the 196-year-old New-York Historical Society, which staggered through
the late 1980s and 1990s, managing to survive only after closing to the public
for nearly 21/2 years.
Anxious to avoid a similar fate, the Barnes is busy approaching wealthy
individuals - people who can write a check without months of consideration.
A "Barnes Society" is in development and could be ready by November, Camp
said. Society fees would support the foundation, and the membership would
form a fund-raising base.
Camp hopes the efforts will raise $900,000 by the end of the year and
$2.5 million in 2001.
The foundation's campaign created an instant buzz in the artistic and
philanthropic communities. E-mail lists in the funding community cited the
news last month, and an association of charitable foundations discussed the
Barnes at a recent meeting.
"There was great concern about the situation and a lot of optimism that
the grant-making community would come through," said Dorothy S. Ridings,
president and chief executive officer of the Council on Foundations.
Local arts and arts-funding leaders are also generally upbeat about the
foundation's chances.
"The Barnes is such an extraordinary institution and such a treasure that it seems to
me there should be a lot of support for it and its future," d'Harnoncourt said.
But the ability of the Philadelphia region to fund the Barnes on its own is a concern.
"I believe that everyone in this region and this country, if not in the world,
wants to see that collection survive and be as accessible as possible," said
Dale Mitchell, executive director of the Delaware Valley Grantmakers.
"I think people in the local funding community want to make sure the burden
isn't placed just on them."
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