WKU News

This GivingTuesday, the Kentucky Museum will celebrate giving by promoting its Friends program.

GivingTuesday, taking place December 3^rd, is a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage giving and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Every year, on GivingTuesday, millions of people across the globe mobilize to show up, give back, and change their communities. The goal is to create a massive wave of generosity that lasts well beyond that day, and touches every person on the planet.

The Kentucky Museum, as a vital arts and culture sector organization, has listed on their blog three reasons to support their work.

1. Museums are good for well-being. Showcasing multiple studies, they detail how museums help lower the risk of anxiety and depression, increase well-being moreso than sports, help unify communities, and promote greater civic engagement and lower poverty rates in their communities.

2. The economic benefits are immense. Citing data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Museum detailed how the arts and cultural sector (not including tourism) contributes over $763 billion to the U.S. economy – and $4.7 billion to Kentucky’s economy – each year.

3. Museums foster one of most employer-desired skills, with 97% of U.S. employers stating that creativity – fostered through visits, close study sessions, work-study, internships, assistantships, and other Museum programs – is increasingly important to them.

By joining #GivingTuesday, the Museum hopes to increase its Friends membership, which provides unrestricted support for the Museum’s exhibits, programs, and student needs.

“We receive no funding from WKU to support our exhibits, programs, or collections,” stated Development and Marketing Manager, Tiffany Isselhardt, “so programs like the Friends are absolutely vital to our ability to serve our campus and community. Without Friends support, we simply wouldn’t have the resources to welcome over 12,000 people per year and provide programs like K-12 field trips and WKU student workshops.”

By joining #GivingTuesday, the Museum hopes to show how just $50 per year – that’s less than one venti frappucino per month – can help the community continue to receive the incredible benefits that arts and culture bring.

Founded in 2012, GivingTuesday has inspired millions of people to give back and support the causes they believe in. In just seven years, GivingTuesday has radically changed how we think about generosity and showed just how much power communities everywhere have to create change.

“When GivingTuesday launched in the US in 2012, we believed that technology and social media could be used to make generosity go viral,” said Asha Curran, GivingTuesday’s CEO and co-founder. “We believed in the idea that people fundamentally want to give and to talk about giving; and that the social sector had the capacity to show more innovative leadership, creativity, and collaboration. People and organizations around the world proved us right. As we prepare for December 3, we’re energized and encouraged by the community’s generosity. The levels of creativity, effort and the quality of the new ideas people have contributed and shared are phenomenal.”

Those who are interested in joining the Kentucky Museum’s GivingTuesday initiative can join their Friends at http://alumni.wku.edu/kymuseummem