Providence Children’s Museum
Selected For New Kresge Foundation Initiative
PROVIDENCE, RI –
Providence Children’s Museum is one of only nine children’s museums
across the country to be selected to participate in the SAFE
(Strengthening Arts Facilities Effectively) initiative, a partnership
between The Kresge Foundation and the Nonprofit Finance Fund.
The SAFE initiative is working with children’s museums and community
music schools to help them address their building maintenance and
repair needs within the context of a better understanding of their
overall capitalization. This initiative is part of Kresge’s
multi-faceted program to promote widespread application of sound
capitalization principles in order to strengthen individual
organizations and the sector as a whole. The Foundation believes
that well-capitalized organizations will be in a better position to
produce higher quality products and be more impactful, innovative and
relevant in their communities.
“It both a great honor and a wonderful opportunity for the Museum to be
selected for this program and the timing is perfect,” said Providence
Children’s Museum Executive Director Janice O’Donnell.
The Museum is financially stable and capable of building a fund,
especially with Kresge’s support, to ensure its building remains
well-maintained over the long term.”
All 15 of the organizations selected to participate are past recipients of Kresge support for capital projects. Alice L. Carle,
program director at The Kresge Foundation, wrote, “Our research shows
that, while organizations can plan well to develop new or renovated
buildings, the on-going maintenance and repair of these facilities is
often challenging. Across the arts and culture sector, Kresge is
increasingly concerned that organizations are deferring equipment and
facilities maintenance as a short-term cost saving measure, which could
result in expensive, emergency repairs in the future that may interrupt
programming. We recognize the importance of our shared investment in
[these] facilities and want to help protect and preserve these
community assets.”
As part of the SAFE initiative, Kresge and the Nonprofit Finance Fund
are providing each participating organization with in-depth, multi-year
financial analysis; a 20-year replacement and repair schedule for major
building systems prepared by qualified engineers: matching funds to
encourage the practice of making deposits into a capital resource
account; and access to periodic workshops, tools, and publications
related to facilities planning, funding and financing.
Other organizations selected to participate in this initiative include
the children’s museums in Boston, Brooklyn, Houston, and Dover (NH), as
well as community music schools in New York, New Haven and Chicago.
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