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Re: Academy of Natural Sciences financial problems



They need to hire a (or several) fund raising expert(s) who's salary is a percentage of their accomplishments. The board of directors feet need to be held to the fire as well as they are responsible for fund raising each and every one of them. Anybody can attend the non-profits board meeting I assume. I have been on the board of several non-profits and if they didn't make money, non-performing board members heads rolled. Obviously previous boards made the financial obligations prior to the 80's. It is interesting that the Philidelphia's social elite are letting such a fine collection languish. Is Philadelphia suffering the same economic problems?

Frank (Rooster) Bliss
MS Biostratigraphy
Weston, Wyoming
On Dec 4, 2005, at 1:11 PM, Patti wrote:

(As reported by Mary K. to the dinolist.
I've been volunteering and working there since 1998 and have seen the drastic cuts over the years. It's a fantastic and priceless place that is undervalued by the city and the public in general. it would be great to get strong leadership in the president's office this next time around, as well as the drastic upgrade the museum needs! The article is incisive and well-researched. - Patti)
_______________________________________________________
Dinosaur museum is itself threatened"
"The Academy of Natural Sciences has been harmed by cuts in staffing and
years of financial troubles."
By Patricia Horn
Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted on Sun, Dec. 04, 2005
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/living/health/13324126.htm


To generations of parents and children, the Academy of Natural Sciences is
Philadelphia's dinosaur museum.
But to scientists who study climate change, the extinction of species, and
other critical ecological matters, the academy is the home of one of the
world's most valuable collections of biological specimens, critical to
understanding life on Earth.
"The academy is not just another museum," said Piotr Naskrecki, a Harvard
University-based director of Conservation International. "It is a priceless
library of biodiversity."
And it is all at risk.
The academy, at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, is struggling financially,
and has been for more than a decade. It ran deficits through much of the
1980s, and from 1993 through last year, the academy ran annual deficits averaging
about $700,000 a year.
The shortfalls have forced the academy over the last 15 years to shed many
of the people who care for its 25 million specimens of fish, moss, coral,
diatoms, dinosaur bones, birds, mammals, mollusks and plants.
The cuts continued last year, as it reduced its already shrunken scientific
staff by a third, trimmed other staff, and restructured.
All that has left scientists in and out of the academy worried about the
welfare of the collection and the future of the institution.
_____


<SNIP> of long, interesting article.

Mary


Patricia Kane-Vanni, Esq. Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 pkv1@erols.com or paleopatti@hotmail.com http://groups.msn.com/DinosaurandFossilDigs

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great." - Mark Twain