Campaign to 'Cover for COVID'
The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is in special need of Friends’ help! The Friends has a proposal to deal with the museum’s current situation. Since early March, the economics of the Museum have deteriorated due to impacts from the pandemic:- 30-35 percent cut in budget as of July 1
- Physical changes in displays to comply with hands-off health guidelines
- Reduction in public hours
The Museum can use the help and support of the Friends more than ever in this challenging time, to provide financial resources to assist staff in completing their mission, as well as to enhance offerings that are educational and entertaining to the public, many of whom are finan-cially distressed, as well. Because of the pandemic, Friends fundraising activities have been severely curtailed since early March. We are still holding monthly "Dine Out" benefit nights for revenue-sharing with restaurants, with modest success.
And we hope to resume customary events as soon as September, but we have already delayed four big revenue-earning events (A Taste of Red & White, Jubilee Revisited, Secrets of Tea and Barnes & Noble Book Fair). And we’ve had to eliminate our monthly raffles and sales of stationery, Nevada brooches and over-the-shoulder Friends tote bags.
In the process of moving our monthly meetings online for health safety, we also have missed many impromptu donations from our generous members and meeting attendees.
Our goal is not to build a big bank account but to spend every dollar we can to support Museum staff members in executing their mission. The Friends take pride that, in 2019, we spent about $20,000 of our $25,000 budget on projects for the Museum that included direct purchase of supplies for Museum use, as well as holding events to attract new-comers to the Museum and draw more return visitors. Thus, even though we know times may be tight for many, we are asking all Friends to consider expanding their donations, to help the Museum not just survive by thrive. Since we don’t anticipate any traditional fundraising activities until at least the autumn, we are initiating a three-prong campaign, Cover for COVID, to raise funds during the summer. The three prongs (described in depth below) are:
- SHOPPING LIST OF NEEDS, and estimated costs, identified by Museum staff. We seek direct donations for each specific item.
- PLEDGE SYSTEM, by which an individual can pledge a to pay a set amount of money, starting now, for a complete 12 months.
- SILENT AUCTION, to be held online in August, with a number of prized items or experiences.. Further details about the auction will be communicated in mid- July.
As you know from members meetings and newsletters, the Friends have been able - through your generosity - to provide $3,000 out of our general fund for the purchase of items for the museum staff that were high priority, but not covered by the museum’s budget. Items acquired to date include:
- Two new computers
- New laser printer
- Stereoscopic viewer
- Shade canopy for outdoors
- 12 up-to-date research/reference books
- Hangers for Costume & Textiles Dept.
- Miscellaneous supplies for classroom crafts
- Personal protection equipment (single-use masks & sanitizer)
