NEH Challenge Grant Collections Initiative

The NEH has challenged the Museum to raise $900,000 by June 30, 2015 to create a collections endowment and support construction of a museum-quality storage facility. If successful, NEH will grant SCM $300,000.

This is a multi-year campaign and so far we have raised more than half of the challenge - $486,000 in 2012. The goal is to complete the challenge over the next six months and to raise $414,000 by June 30.

With this mini-campaign, we are looking to raise $50,000 towards the Collections Initiative Challenge Grant. If successful, NEH will give us $16,700 in matching funds - $1 from NEH for every $3 we raise.

Why not go for all of the $414,000? We have commitments from two major donors to fund about $300,000 of the total - but we need help with the rest. We know that there are museum supporters who feel strongly about supporting endowment and collections. So here's an important opportunity to participate in this campaign.

Why is the Collections Initiative one of the top SCM priorities for 2013?

SCM has a collection of over 18,000 art and historic objects that uniquely document the art, history, and culture of California’s North Coast region from the late nineteenth-century to the present. The Museum has several significant focus collections. These include major bodies of work by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Harry Dixon, Carroll Barnes, Marguerite Wildenhain, and Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel. In addition, the Museum’s collection provides the only remaining materials associated with various historic communities that no longer exist, including Santa Rosa’s Chinatown, and Fountaingrove Utopian Colony, and includes documentation of the wine industry, and the history of Sonoma County’s Latino and immigrant communities.

Today much of the Museum's collections remain in transitional storage, and this storage is not up to museum standards. This means that the collection is not generally accessible to the public, and that the objects risk long-term damage.

The Collections Initiative provides funds for two things:

1) Endowment - We will have a $1 million endowment that supports staff and making the collections publicly accessible for the long-term.

2) Secure long-term storage for the Museum's collections.

Help us ensure that the Museum's rich and unique collections are not only protected but accessible to the public.

Let us know if you would like to offer a matching grant! Contact Diane Evans at devans@sonomacountymuseum.org if this is of interest.

thank you!