A recent story in the Birmingham (Ala.) Business Journal reported that so many local nonprofit organizations are competing for private capital to fund their building projects that there might not be enough money to go around. Among those projects is a new $25 million, 4.1-acre headquarters campus for the Salvation Army. Phase 1 of that construction—which includes a renovation of a former elementary school—is being funded by a campaign that raised more than $15 million, including $1 million pledged by Jim Gorrie, CEO of Brasfield & Gorrie, the GC on this project.
Birmingham is among the metros reaping the benefits of a spurt in nonprofit building. A recent article posted on the website of The NonProfit Times singles out several major capital campaigns to finance new construction of museums, hospitals, theaters, and other venues, at a time when contributions from local, state, and federal governments, while still essential to many organizations’ building strategies, aren’t as certain or steady as they once might have been.
Leading this charge has been The Smithsonian, which in October 2014 launched its first-ever fundraising campaign, with a goal of raising $1.5 billion, the largest ever for any cultural institution. (About $1 billion had been pledged even before the campaign officially got rolling.)
A portion of the $540 million 400,000-sf National Museum of African-American History and Culture, which opened in September, was financed by private donations. Most of the Smithsonian’s exhibits and programs are privately funded. And about 40% of the institution’s salaries and maintenance are defrayed by donors, compared to 30% prior to its initiating the fundraising campaign.
The NonProfitTimes also points to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which has offset a decline in income from investments by contributions that rose to $160 million in 2015, from $78 million the previous year, mostly from a handful of major donations.
This museum is currently adding to its Rose Center for Earth and Space with a $325 million, six-story, 218,000-sf Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, scheduled for completion in 2019. The 84-year-old financier and philanthropist Richard Gilder contributed $50 million to this project, the largest single donation in the museum’s history.
New York City kicked in $15 million for this addition. The city is also playing a financing role in other cultural construction projects, such as the 57,500-sf “Ocean Wonders: Sharks!” exhibit in Coney Island. The city made a “major gift” to the Harlem Children’s Zone, which in 2015—the first year of its capital campaign—raised $193 million, versus $78 million in 2014.
The Task Force for Global Health, a nonprofit health organization in Decatur, Ga., is working with DeKalb County to acquire a six-story government building that would triple the square footage of this organization’s existing headquarters. The Task Force will soon launch a $15 million capital campaign to pay for the $12 million purchase and renovating the building.
Related Stories
| Apr 17, 2013
First look: Renzo Piano's glass-domed motion pictures museum
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week released preliminary plans for its $300 million Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences museum in Los Angeles, designed by Renzo Piano and local architect Zoltan Pali.
| Apr 16, 2013
5 projects that profited from insulated metal panels
From an orchid-shaped visitor center to California’s largest public works project, each of these projects benefited from IMP technology.
| Apr 12, 2013
Nation's first 'food forest' planned in Seattle
Seattle's Beacon Food Forest project is transforming a seven-acre lot in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood into a self-sustaining, edible public park.
| Apr 12, 2013
Chicago rail conversion puts local twist on High Line strategy
Plans are moving forward to convert an unused, century-old Chicago rail artery to a 2.7 mile, 13 acre recreational facility and transit corridor.
| Apr 11, 2013
George W. Bush Presidential Center achieves LEED Platinum certification
The George W. Bush Presidential Center announced today it has earned Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The Bush Center is the first presidential library to achieve LEED Platinum certification under New Construction.
| Apr 11, 2013
American Folk Art Museum, opened in 2001, to be demolished
Just 12 years old, the museum designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be taken down to make way for MoMA expansion.
| Apr 5, 2013
Snøhetta design creates groundbreaking high-tech library for NCSU
The new Hunt Library at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, incorporates advanced building features, including a five-story robotic bookBot automatic retrieval system that holds 2 million volumes in reduced space.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
