Geneva History Center facing budget woes

The Geneva History Center has begun sounding an alarm: It's running out of money.

Income is only covering about 60 percent of expenses, so officials have been dipping into savings to make up the difference.

But at the rate it's been going, that money will be gone in two years, executive director David Oberg said Tuesday.

So, the center's board of directors is swallowing its pride and has started calling on the aldermen, park district commissioners and township and school trustees in Geneva to help it find a more permanent, perhaps public, form of financing.

The first stop was the Geneva City Council Monday night.

"We need a reliable and consistent public revenue source," said former mayor Dick Lewis, a member of its board of directors.

Admission not enough

It costs about $300,000 a year to run the center at 113 S. Third St., in the heart of the downtown shopping district, Oberg said.

Donations, program fees, memberships, grants, sponsorships, fundraisers, interest on investments, room rentals and gift store sales make up that 60 percent. But donations have been declining since 2007, as has interest income. One of the center's endowment funds lost $86,000 in value from June 2007 to June 2008, the last year for which IRS forms for the nonprofit are available. Grant money is drying up, too, Oberg said, due to the state of the economy.

"On the flip side, attendance has never been stronger," and memberships are at their highest level, he said. The center recently won statewide recognition for one of its previous exhibits, "Americans Who Tell the Truth."

In the last fiscal year, it presented 70 programs for children and 58 for adults. It also works with Geneva schools to teach elementary children local history, including a walking tour of sites downtown. Since it moved to downtown a few years ago, it has been an active participant in the Geneva Downtown Partnership that promotes the central shopping and business district.

The center raised its program fees in January, but "We're just not going to be able to earn our way out," Oberg said.

Bigger givers sought

It needs more Herrington Circle people - those who donate $1,000 or more. And people to give to its endowment and annual funds. Businesses to sponsor exhibits and events. More people to attend fundraisers, such as the Oct. 24 "Spirits of Geneva" pub-crawl.

"I think half the town thinks we have public funding," said Oberg, saying museum visitors often compliment him on "the fine job it is doing with their tax dollars." He corrects them: the center is a private entity, and doesn't receive any tax money, unlike the Depot Museum in Batavia, which is run by the Batavia Park District, or Naper Settlement in Naperville, which is owned by the city.

City council members, while sympathetic to the center's plight, did not offer any solutions Monday night. And Lewis said the center does recognize that the government bodies are facing their own financial problems due to the economy.

"The city does help preserve the mortal remains of the residents who made the city what this is," said Alderman Chuck Brown, urging council members to talk up the center's needs with residents.

Next year is Geneva 175th anniversary, and the center is already planning ways to mark the occasion.

"I want to make sure we're here for the 200th," Oberg said.