1. Whitney Museum Capital Campaign
ALEXANDRA WHEELER

2. Whitney Museum of American Art
Expansion History
1931
The Whitney opens to the public on 8th street in Greenwich Village
200 works in the collection
1954
The Whitney moves to new building on West 54th street (land owned by MoMA)
1,792 works in the collection
1966
The Whitney opens the Breuer building on 75th and Madison
2,000 works in the collection
1985
Proposed addition to Breuer designed by Michael Graves announced (abandoned in 1989)
9,197 works in the collection
1998
They Whitney opens new permanent collection galleries on the 5th floor of the Breuer building (8,734 square feet)
13,335 works in the collection
2001
Proposed addition to Breuer designed by Rem Koolhaus announced (abandoned in 2003)
14,671 works in the collection
2004
Proposed addition to Breuer designed by Renzo Piano announced (after passing Community Board and all zoning, abandoned in fall 2006)
16,804 works in the collection
2007
Renzo Piano begins designing a new museum located on a City-owned site at the base of the soon to be High Line Park in downtown Manhattan
17,913 works in the collection
2011
The Whitney breaks ground on new downtown museum on May 24, 2011
19,383 works in the collection
2015
The Whitney Downtown opens to the public

3. New Building Facts Nine-story, over 200,000 square foot building
More than 50,000 square feet of gallery space, half for showcasing the permanent collection and half for special exhibitions and artist
Approximately 13,000 square feet of outdoor space for artist projects, exhibitions, and performances
Dedicated Education Center including classroom and studio spaces
Theatre complex with 170 retractable seats and dramatic double-height views of the Hudson River
Black box theatre with adjacent outdoor gallery for simultaneous indoor/outdoor programming
Conservation lab, Works on Paper Study Center, and Library Reading Room
Ground floor restaurant and eighth floor café
Retail shop
Approximately 8,500 square foot outdoor plaza or ”largo”
Pursuing LEED Gold rating

4. Campaign Goal History
ORIGINAL GOAL (2007)
REVISED GOAL (May 2010)
REVISED GOAL (Jan 2011)
FINAL GOAL
(Mar 2013)
575,000
590,000
625,000
665,000
Since 2007 total campaign goal increase of $90M or 16%
Benchmarking analysis for 11 recent museum campaigns:
all increased goal
8 of 11 increased 2-3 times
range from 16% (WMAA) to 138%

5. Campaign Purpose and Progress to Date
USES (in thousands)
Construction Costs
(inclusive of land purchase)
With over 200,000 square feet, the Museum will
increase its gallery space by 60% and triple its
total space
422,000
Endowment
Increasing the endowment is critical to
securing the financial foundation of the
Whitney’s future home.
225,000
Capacity Building
Providing essential ramp up support associated
with transitioning to the new building and to
ensure dynamic programming during this period.
113,000
TOTAL
760,000
SOURCES
(in thousands)
Goal
Raised to Date
Fundraising
665,000
469,696
Real Estate Assets
95,000
Total Project Goal
760,000
564,696
71%
74%
Campaign sources include Trustees, Individuals, Government, Foundations, Corporations and an Art Auction.
Trustee giving anticipated to be 61% of total funds raised

6. Key Learnings over past 6 years
Board development has been essential to reaching increased objectives
Importance of Naming and Recognition program to securing gifts, particularly upgrades
Board looking for a “whale”
Individual solicitations have taken longer to close than anticipated
Need to activate volunteers beyond the Campaign Committee and Board
Predictive Modeling an important resource

7. Northwestern view of Whitney site
December 2012

8. Southwestern view of Whitney site
March 2013