Milwaukee Public Museum remains on track towards a $240 million fundraising goal tied to its new building, says the museum CEO and president.
Ellen Censky declined to provide an updated amount because that number is continually rising.
“I’m reluctant because it’ll end up in a newspaper,” Censky said. “And tomorrow, it’ll be a different number.”
Censky made her comments during a Dec. 2 appearance before the County Board’s Committee on Parks and Culture.
Museum officials will provide an updated amount in early 2026, she said, after the year-end “giving season” is over.
Censky told committee members in March the museum has raised 80% of the $240 million tied to development of its new building scheduled to open in 2027.
That $191 million included around $105 million from private donors as of the end of 2024.
In the Dec. 2 committee appearance, Censky said the museum has since raised millions − including $4.5 million raised in recent weeks.
“We are bringing in checks every single day,” Censky said.
The museum is seeking $150 million in private donations. That includes donations for the museum’s endowment, which won’t be used for building the new facility.
Along with securing $45 million from the county and $40 million from the state, the museum is seeking $5 million in federal grants.
The fundraising will continue until the new museum, named the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin, opens in about 18 months, Censky said. The five-story, 200,000-square-foot building is under construction at North Sixth Street and West McKinley Avenue.
The cost of designing and constructing the new museum and its exhibits is estimated at $200 million. Additional costs include $20 million for the museum’s endowment and $20 million to move the collections.
The current museum, which opened in 1963 at 800 W. Wells St., is too large, inefficient and affected by years of deferred maintenance, according to museum officials.
Censky mentioned some of those issues to the committee. That includes problems with escalators and elevators shutting down periodically since June − which she called “a major inconvenience.”
The museum finished its fiscal year on Aug. 31 with an operating surplus of $2.2 million, compared to a $1.2 surplus from the previous fiscal year.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Public Museum remains on track toward its fundraising goal
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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