Museums and arts groups brace for dip in donations

''I am a museum that has no endowment. I have to raise my operating costs every single year,'' says Katherine French of the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham. (Bill Greene/Globe Staff)

When the Berkshire Museum needed $10 million for an expansion project, Kenneth Nash stepped up. A lifelong Pittsfield resident, Nash, 77, gave $100,000 in 2006. And that wasn't his first stroke of generosity.

Earlier that year, Nash had pledged $50,000 to be paid to the museum over 10 years. But recently, with his portfolio struggling, Nash made another, more difficult, decision. He wrote to the Berkshire Museum and several other arts institutions near his home to let them know he may need more time to fulfill his pledges.

"It hurts," said Nash, who owns a group of office and warehouse buildings. "They understand, but I'm hurting Barrington Stage, I'm hurting the Berkshire Museum, and I'm hurting Mass MoCA, who all depend our commitment."

Arts organizations across the state say they're bracing to hear from more donors like Nash: generous and loyal givers squeezed by the economy. To prepare, they've been making lists of potential cuts, enacting hiring freezes, and shifting reserve funds so they're better protected and easier to get at.

"We're being clear-eyed," said Joseph C. Thompson, Mass MoCA's director. "The economic backdrop is foreboding. We expect substantial hits on our normal philanthropic income lines. So we're planning for a rough one, maybe a rough two, years."

Thompson is looking to slice $800,000 from Mass MoCA's $6-million annual budget and has not ruled out layoffs. At the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, director Katherine French is prepared, if necessary, to cut 10, 20, and even 30 percent from her annual $1.35-million budget. She also isn't sure when to launch a campaign to raise money for a building project which, she says, is no luxury; the century-old boiler in the basement could go at any time.

"I'm sure a museum like the Museum of Fine Arts is watching this but with the level of giving their donors are giving, they can ride this out," said French. "I am a museum that has no endowment. I have to raise my operating costs every single year."

Officials at the MFA are, indeed, comparatively unconcerned about the downturn affecting donations. More than 60 percent of the $504 million pledged for the museum's recently completed capital campaign has been collected. Not a single donor has tried to pull back on a pledge, deputy director Patricia Jacoby said last week.

"It's too early to see a trend, it's too easy to speculate," said Jacoby. "The most important thing for all of our institutions is to remain patient and confident and move forward as best we can in a steady way. What I wouldn't want to see is a self-fulfilling prophecy."

The MFA knows first hand how to deal with a downturn. An earlier capital campaign - the largest ever for a cultural institution in the state - was launched a few months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The campaign was in the "quiet phase" on 9/11, meaning the museum had only begun to raise money behind the scenes from a select group of wealthy trustees. That enabled the MFA to delay the campaign without a public relations mess.

That same strategy could come into play at two major Boston arts organizations.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has just launched the quiet portion of what could be a $400 million effort. No decision has been made on whether to delay and no panic has set in, said BSO managing director Mark Volpe.

"It's clear that we've been in challenging times and I suspect they're going to get more challenging," he said. "But recognize that a campaign plays out over a four- or five- or six-year horizon, and there'll be several other cycles."

Officials at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is looking to raise more than $100 million for a building project wouldn't discuss whether it may adjust the timetable for the campaign.

MFA trustee Frederic A. Sharf said he would advise the Gardner to lengthen the "quiet" phase.

"Wait for the turmoil to subside," said Sharf who, along with his wife, Jean, has already contributed more than $5 million to the MFA's campaign. "The only people who know are the people on the inside."

Sharf said he doesn't expect big MFA donors to renege on pledges. Smaller gifts, though, could be harder to come by. Personally, he's unlikely to change his relationship with the MFA. But other museums might find it tougher to solicit donations.

"I've got a couple of [proposals] sitting on my desk right now, and in good times I might be willing to pony up $10,000, $15,000 on a project," he said. "In these times, that kind of request is not going to show up on my radar screen."

At the Lenox-based Shakespeare & Co. theater group, about a dozen donors have said they will need more time to pay up. Managing director Nick Puma said that he has had to delay paying some bills connected to the company's recent renovation project.

"It's slows your process down, but the vendors understand," said Puma. "They have the same problems themselves."

In a time of crisis, very large organizations such as the MFA and BSO have rich endowments they can draw on. Not so at the Lyric Stage Company, which has no endowment. But the company has a healthy following, and ticket sales and subscriptions have been strong this year, managing director Sara Glidden said.

Still, to be safe, board chairman Bruce McCue called this week and told Glidden to transfer a portion of the company's $500,000 reserve fund into more conservative accounts.

"I don't like the idea of anything that doesn't earn some interest some place, but if it makes my board more comfortable to know that short term fears are not going to be a problem, that's what I'll do," she said.

One thing arts officials are not doing is pressuring potential donors.

"Because so much of the fund-raising everywhere in the last five years has come from the financial world, I think it will color all of your planning," said Hans Morris, president of Visa Inc. and head of Mass MoCA's finance committee. "If I had [potential donor] who had been at [collapsed firm] Lehman [Brothers], I wouldn't call right now."

French knows that her museum, housed in a former high school, needs a new roof and boiler. She's not sure whether the building should be renovated, or a new site found.

She is sure this isn't the best moment to ask for too much help.

"I'm not approaching people," French said. "Now's not the time to be asking donors, who have so many other worries, to tell me exactly what they're going to do in January."

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.