Outcry Over a Plan by Brandeis to Sell Its Museum’s Holdings – NYTimes.com.
This mornings New York Times article clearly illustrates the financial difficulties which museums and other non-profit institutions are facing.
The economic difficulties affecting the world are not restricted to the “for profit” world. Dozens of not-for-profit organizations have been put out of business or had their funding slashed in half by the Madoff ponzi scheme which in some cases directly affected the financial holdings of these institutions and in other cases hurt the benefactors that had so generously supported their favorite causes. Add to this the cutting of public funding and the outlook is grim. (Food, shelter and health take priority during times of financial crisis, and rightly so.)
In the case of Brandeis University, they intend to sell off their entire collection. But other museums and institutions could “weather the financial storm” by de-accessing some of their holdings which would never see the light of day because, quite frankly, they do not make interesting public displays nor are they needed for research.
