As I mentioned two posts ago when I wrote about the New Museum’s UnGala, which was mightily aided by the auction of a commissioned portrait by Karen Kilimnik, arts institutions in New York have been telling me, anecdotally, that donations are not down as much as might be expected. So far, I’ve not run across a single case where they are down as steeply as the stock market decline.
But many are suffering from another fundraising problem, which I outline in an article in
today’s New York Times. Many — even as important as Carnegie Hall (right) — can’t find honoress from the business world for their benefits, and honorees are key to reaching new constituencies and to luring corporate donations. Executives who once sought out honors are now saying no. Or they are agreeing to be honored only if they don’t have to pressure their business contacts into buying tables.
It’s a problem many expect to get worse in the next year, partly because many organizations extended invitations to this spring’s honorees before the worst hit last year. And, as one fundraiser told me, “people are gala’d out — they don’t want to be seen having a good time now.”
Not everyone, though: rumor has it that tomorrow’s annual Costume Institute benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is again set to be a titanic success.
Here’s a link to my Times article.