Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry's endowment is the capital that secures the quality and continuity of the Museum and plays a significant role in providing the resources to maintain a world-class institution. The importance of a strong endowment to the future of the Museum of Science and Industry is of such critical importance that the Museum set a goal of adding $20 million to the endowment through both direct and testamentary gifts as part of the Science Rediscovered capital campaign.

The Museum's endowment, while growing, is still at a level below most of the major cultural institutions in the city of Chicago. A larger endowment will lessen the Museum's dependence on annual fundraising, increase the funds available for acquisition, sustain a conservation and building maintenance program, and support capital improvements. Increasing the endowment provides more income for core budget areas and greater financial stability and growth, allowing the Museum to implement its long-range plans.

The current endowment for the Museum of Science and Industry is more than $80 million. Although this is a large number, the Museum needs to increase it significantly in order to ensure the future funding of programs and exhibits. In 2006, the Museum's Endowment funded $4.977 million (approximately 13.6 percent) of its operating budget. Many major institutions look to their endowment to fund 20-25 percent of their annual operating budget.

The growth in the endowment is needed to fund, in part, the ongoing operations of the many new exhibits and education and public engagement programs which are being implemented through Science Rediscovered. Most of the Museum of Science and Industry's endowment is currently unrestricted, but the need for endowment money restricted specifically for educational programs, exhibit maintenance and program support is real and immediate.

For more information on leaving your legacy for the Museum of Science and Industry's future by making a gift to the endowment, contact Robert Shafis, Director of Major Gift Planning, at (773) 947-3738 or bob.shafis(at)msichicago.org.