The Brooklyn Museum has been given a $5 Million endownment towards its director position from the Leon Levy Foundation.  The gift formally makes Director Arnold L. Lehman the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum.  “I grew up in Brooklyn,” says gift namesake Shelby White, a founding trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation, “and I remember taking class trips to the museum to look at the Egyptian collection. I didn’t realize, until much later, that it was one of the greatest museums in the world.” (more…)

The Museum of Contemporary Art, following an embattled 2013 that saw the departure of Jeffrey Deitch and a potential purchase of the museum by LACMA, has reportedly reached its $100 Million Endowment fundraising goal.  “This means we can take off the table any questions about MOCA’s future,” said board chair Maria Bell. “The remaining questions are exciting ones concerning our upcoming exhibitions.” (more…)

Storming back from its brush with financial insolvency earlier this year, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has announced that it has raised over $50 Million in the past month, bringing its total endowment past $75 Million.  The new contributions come from a number of prominent names, including new board member Bruce Karatz, Jeffrey Soros, and Eli Broad.  “The level of support we have received is fantastic. There is a new energy and excitement about MOCA’s future and its leadership role in the art world,” says Eugenio Lopez, co-chair of  the endowment campaign. (more…)

Juan Gris, Figure Seated in a Café (Man at a Table) (1914). via New York Times

Leonard Lauder, the former chairman of Estée Lauder and a noted collector of early 20th century art, has donated a vast collection of Cubist works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, valued at more than $1 billion. (more…)

Following several weeks of turbulence for Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the institution announced that it has been promised donations that will raise its endowment past $60 million, the highest levels in its 34-year history.  The news comes after several weeks in which the museum was forced to consider a potential merger with LACMA to keep its doors open.  “The financial support we have already raised demonstrates the commitment of the board to ensuring that MOCA remains a world-class independent contemporary art museum, and we call on others to join in this campaign,” says MOCA Board President Jeffrey Soros. (more…)

The National Gallery in Washington, DC has announced a renovation to its East Building that will add 12,260 square feet of exhibition space, as well as a rooftop sculpture garden.  The new spaces will host a selection of modern art from the Gallery’s collection, including a room potentially dedicated to Mark Rothko.  “This gift to the nation by these generous donors will enable us to exhibit more art from our ever-growing modern collection in spaces that will be at once spacious, airy and contemplative.”  said director Earl A. Powell. (more…)

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Via the Los Angeles Times

In a letter dated February 24th, Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan and his co-chairs have made a formal offer to acquire the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in downtown Los Angeles.  The proposal outlines a plan for the transition of ownership of MOCA’s two museum properties to LACMA, which would maintain their operation under the MOCA banner. (more…)

The Brooklyn Museum is currently attempting to overturn an agreement made in 1931 that specified that a large donated collection be kept together after the owner’s death, despite the issue that a quarter of the works have since been determined forgeries, misattributed, or “not of museum quality.”  The case highlights the thorny issue of donor intent, which can occasionally hold an institution to untenable standards with regards to its collection and gifts.  “A respect for donor intent is essential for philanthropic integrity.” said Adam Meyerson, president of the Philanthropy Roundtable.  However, “You’re not serving donor intent if you go bankrupt.”

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Salem, MA’s Peabody Essex Museum has quietly risen up the ranks to become one of the United States’ top 20 art museums for gallery space and endowment, thanks in part to a new revenue model that focuses on strengthening the museum’s endowment over physical expansion.  Led by director Dan L. Monroe, the museum has also shifted its focus towards the local community, and away from occasionally unreliable streams of tourists.  “That gives you a dynamic relationship with the community and the capability to develop a support base,” Mr. Monroe says. (more…)