An update on PRI's restructuring and financial challenges
An update on PRI’s restructuring and financial challenges
January 25, 2025 | Originally posted on January 24, 2025 on 14850.com as Guest Column: Together, we can preserve a local treasure: The Future for PRI
Over the past week, following the recent news coverage of our financial challenges, we have been overwhelmed by messages of encouragement, support, and generosity from individuals near and far. These responses remind us of the profound impact PRI has had—and continues to have—on the lives of so many.
While PRI faces serious challenges, we also see tremendous opportunity: an opportunity to rally together as a community, build a stronger, more sustainable PRI, and ensure that future generations can continue to learn, explore, and be inspired by the wonders of the Earth and its life.
Many have asked important questions about our situation, and we want to take this opportunity to try to answer them, while also focusing on how we can move forward together.
Do you actually need $30 million to keep going?
No. When we talk about $30 million in pledges, it’s more complex than a single large sum of unpaid funding. A group of donors, who have been supporting the organization for over 20 years, had made a wide range of pledges, from capital projects, operations, mortgage, and endowment, to the Director's salary, altogether totaling more than $30 million. They committed to annual pledges of over $1 million, which made up a significant portion of our annual operating budget. These funds were essential for covering annual operations, including staff salaries, utilities, insurance, and the mortgage.
Neither the annual pledges for the past couple years nor the larger long term pledges—which were expected by now—have been paid.
Since this issue arose, we have shrunk the institution and the budget and so the amount we need each year to keep going is much smaller than it was before. However, our total mortgage obligation is $3 million and this outstanding obligation remains an issue that is putting a strain on our operating budget.
Are you closing right now? Is there a timeline for that?
At this time, we do not have immediate plans to close, nor have we been placed into foreclosure. However, without the payment of these pledges or a significant financial gift, we will be unable to cover mortgage costs and other critical expenses required to continue operations. There is no hard or fixed timeline for when any of this will happen.
What is happening at the Cayuga Nature Center? Will you run camp?
The Cayuga Nature Center is undergoing some significant changes. Unfortunately, we will not be running our summer camp in 2025. After careful consideration, this difficult decision was made due to current staffing levels. While last year’s camp was managed with our existing team, it is no longer feasible to do so without compromising the high-quality experience our campers and families deserve.
Additionally, we will be rehoming the remaining live animals at the Nature Center. A generous gift from the Lilac Foundation last year allowed us to sustain a downsized collection and provide another year of animal education programs for field trips, campers, and visitors. Despite our efforts to secure additional funding, we were unable to create a sustainable path forward for the program, and it is not possible to continue under current conditions.
We deeply understand the impact these changes will have on our community and want to emphasize that these decisions were not made lightly. We share in the sense of loss felt by our supporters, staff, and visitors.
Moving forward, the Cayuga Nature Center’s grounds and Treetops will remain open year-round from dawn to dusk, offering a place for the community to connect with nature. We also plan to continue some outdoor public programming throughout the year which is made possible from grant funds from the Park Foundation — please check our website and social media for updates on upcoming events.
Although most programs at the Nature Center are paused for now, we are exploring future possibilities for the building, with a focus on preserving its educational mission.
How can people help?
Donations of any size are incredibly helpful. Every contribution helps us cover essential costs, such as keeping the museum open to welcome visitors, heating the building so staff can continue critical work in collections, and paying education staff to run programs for local school children and beyond.
Every gift provides us with another day to continue our mission. Donations also give us the stability needed to provide us with time to develop long-term plans and partnerships that will ultimately secure a sustainable financial future for PRI.
Make a donation here.
Why can’t you just pause operations to catch up?
Our largest expense is staff, and staff are critical to our mission. Without them, there is no science, no education, and ultimately no PRI. Since Fall 2023, we have already reduced staff by about 54%, but further cuts would undermine our mission to the point of being unsustainable.
Additionally, reducing remaining staff or pausing operations would have serious revenue implications, creating further deficits instead of solving the problem. Historically, we’ve been known to “do a lot with a little”, so our other expenses are also as small as they can go without having negative mission and revenue implications.
We also cannot significantly increase the prices of our programs, as they are intentionally kept affordable to ensure accessibility. Like most nonprofits, our business model relies on philanthropy to bridge the gap between program revenues and operating costs. Other museums are facing similar struggles, because admission sales only cover a portion of their operating costs and they rely on the generosity of donors to keep their programs going. Growing philanthropy is the most sustainable path forward for PRI’s financial future.
What have you been doing all year? If you reduced staff so much, what can still get accomplished?
Even in the face of challenges, PRI has achieved remarkable progress over the past year. Since our initial update in Fall 2023, we’ve made significant changes and accomplished several noteworthy goals.
We reduced Museum hours and are now closed on Thursdays, which helped save costs on our lowest attendance day while giving staff a much-needed break. Many team members have been stepping in across various areas of the organization to support our operations and lessening their load where we can is essential.
We’ve prioritized projects funded by grants or restricted donations. These included completing four exhibit projects at the Museum of the Earth, including an updated permanent seismology exhibit and a temporary exhibit featuring the Blaschka Glass Invertebrate Models, on loan from Cornell University. We also delayed the opening of a new temporary Mollusk exhibit for a year to manage staff workload. This project is fully funded by an NSF grant and we are now preparing for an intended opening in June 2025. Focusing on these projects not only advances our mission but also ensures that grant funds can be utilized, helping to keep staff employed. Without completing this work, we cannot access these crucial funds that support our ongoing operations.
Over the past year, we’ve worked diligently to raise the funds needed to continue operations while still serving our local and national audiences to the best of our abilities. We reached over 1.2 million people through our online resources, continued contracted teacher professional development workshops and programs, and secured community sponsorships from BorgWarner and Wegmans to host multiple Pay-What-You-Wish days at the Museum. We also welcomed students and researchers to our collections, advanced federally funded collections projects, and launched a new coral research initiative funded by IMLS.
Why is this institution worth saving?
PRI has been serving audiences locally and nationally for decades. Thanks to donor support, we’ve raised significant funds over the past year and a half, proving that people value and believe in our mission. Every gift, no matter the size, has helped us keep the doors open and the lights on.
We remain committed to our mission and to building a sustainable future.
We are deeply grateful to all our supporters, donors, and members who have championed our organization recently. Whether by sharing our online resources, encouraging others to give, or contributing personally, your support has made an incredible difference. Some of our donors have supported the Institution since before we even had a physical museum, while others are new supporters who recognize the importance of preserving this local treasure. No matter the size of the gift, we are profoundly thankful for every contribution.
It is because of this generosity that we are still here, working to continue this vital work.
Thank you for standing with us.
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Recent News Coverage:
Museum of the Earth faces extinction under “imminent” threat of foreclosure I Ithaca Voice - January 13, 2025
Museum of the Earth Faces Financial Crisis After $30 Million Pledge Falls Through | Ithaca Times - January 22, 2025
You can help keep this Finger Lakes Museum afloat, avoid 'catastrophe for paleontology’ | Ithaca Journal - January 23, 2025
Read the Original Announcement from December 2023 | PRI Downsizing Amidst Financial Challenges