Getting Funding for Conservation
The MACC Preservation Services staff is ready and available to help your institution get funding for your preservation and conservation needs. Our staff has helped dozens of member institutions raise funds for preservation projects ranging from initial surveys to complete conservation treatments to new storage buildings.   Our experienced staff can help you and your institution by:

• Identifying potential funding sources, especially Federal Grant resources
• Assisting in writing Long-range Preservation Plans with Funding Strategies
• Consulting on Federal Funding Protocols
• Prioritizing institutional and collection needs
• Identifying priorities for preservation/conservation projects
• Reviewing drafts of grant proposal applications
• Providing proper preservation and conservation terminology for funding proposals
• Helping to establish project budgets and time lines
• Providing expertise for project consulting
• Providing state-of-the-art general surveys, storage surveys, and object-by-object collection surveys
• Submitting letters of recommendation
• Consulting on in-house fund raising projects

For more information and assistance, contact MACC Preservation Services at (612) 870-3128 or e-mail info@preserveart.org

The Preservation Planning Process

Establishing a long-range Preservation Plan with a thoughtful funding strategy is the key to success in raising money for preservation and conservation projects. Many institutions make the mistake of identifying a single important artifact or artwork within their permanent collection that needs conservation treatment and then seek funding for that particular artifact or artwork first. What most institutions don't realize is that there is an unwritten protocol for preservation funding that not only the Federal Granting Agencies follow, but many private funders now follow as well. According to this protocol, individual conservation treatments for artifacts or artworks should come after other important safeguarding steps have been addressed.

The very first step in preservation planning is to have a General Preservation Assessment Survey conducted at your institution. This general survey is a very useful tool in determining the areas most in need of conservation or preservation at your facility. Financial assistance is available from a number of sources to help your institution hire a conservator or other preservation specialist to survey your collection. Contact our Preservation Services department for assistance in taking this important first step.

A Preservation Plan is a long-term strategy for preserving the collection. This document is created by the institution's staff and identifies the current and future preservation needs and goals for the collection based upon the recommendations from the general survey. The plan then describes the actions that will be taken to meet these preservation goals. Before funding is given to any organization, the grantor needs to see proof of the planning process involved for the proposed project. A Preservation Plan shows the funding agency that the project you are seeking funding for addresses the most pressing needs of the institution's collections and is part of an overall comprehensive long-range preservation strategy.