Children’s Museum receives $250K challenge grant
Less than $1million left to raise to complete Ready, Set … Grow! Capital Campaign
MADISON, Wis. (December 28, 2009) — Madison Children’s Museum has been chosen to receive a $250,000 challenge grant from the Washington, D.C.-based National Endowment for the Humanities, the independent federal agency announced recently.
The museum’s grant, which will go toward its $10 million Ready, Set … Grow! Capital Campaign, was among $20 million in awards and offers for 319 humanities projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia, according to NEH. The funds come just months away from the museum’s move into its new facility at 100 N. Hamilton Street.
The NEH funds support a wide variety of projects nationwide, such as traveling exhibitions, multicultural endeavors, preservation of libraries’ and museums’ collections, and enhancing access to humanities collections. Challenge grants are directed toward support for capital and endowment campaigns.
“We are thrilled to hear that the National Endowment for the Humanities has selected Madison Children’s Museum for a challenge grant,” said Jenni Collins, MCM’s director of development. “This prestigious grant recognizes the high-quality humanities programs the museum provides for the community. It also helps to bring us substantially closer to our fundraising goal and, as a challenge, helps the museum leverage support from other donors.”
Challenge grants support long-term humanities activities by encouraging non-federal donations, and helping institutions improve and find support for their education programs and activities, according to NEH. MCM is required to match NEH funds on a three-to-one basis. The number of challenge grants offered for this cycle was 20, out of 113 applications; approximately $9 million is available in challenge grant funds each year.
At present, the museum has raised more than $8.5 million, and it must reach $9.25 million before a $750,000 Kresge Foundation grant will kick in to complete the campaign.
“The grants announced (this month) highlight the broad spectrum of humanities projects funded by the Endowment,” said NEH Chairman Jim Leach. “From small awards which enable institutions to better preserve and conserve their collections, to larger matching offers that assist organizations with capital improvements, NEH funding supports humanities scholarship and a variety of projects.”
NEH extended grants to three other Wisconsin recipients this cycle: the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which received $50,400 for a fellowship project titled “Writing Now: New Directions in Mass Literacy”; Chippewa Valley Museum, Eau Claire, which was given $6,000 for archives storage; and Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center, Superior, which received $5,979 to support its efforts in preserving materials.
###
About Madison Children’s Museum: Madison Children’s Museum (MCM) is an award-winning organization which fosters family and community connections, and provides a place where every child can learn through play in an interactive environment. MCM’s hands-on exhibits and programs celebrate and encourage children’s imaginations and the power of play as the cornerstone of learning.
The museum will be closed beginning Jan. 4 in order to prepare for the move into its new facility on the Capitol Square. It is scheduled to reopen in mid-August, with plenty of new, exciting exhibits along with some favorites from the State Street location. While the museum is closed, please visit MadisonChildrensMuseum.org for MCM Road Show events, scheduled from late January through the end of May at various locations in south central Wisconsin. The Road Show is sponsored by Target.
About National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, NEH supports learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.
