There is power and possibility when we come together.
Together, we are creating a new wonder for Wisconsin, a world-class museum that’s alive with the wonders around us and unleashes the wonder within us.
Support the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin project by making a gift to our capital campaign, the Wisconsin Wonders campaign.
With the Wisconsin Wonders campaign, we are rallying our community behind the largest cultural project in our state’s history and building a new Museum that brings together the best in the world of museums and brings out the best in Wisconsin.
Read on to learn why this project is so important.
Case for Support
The time has come to look ahead.
While MPM’s current building—owned and maintained by Milwaukee County—has served it well for generations, it no longer can. Ceiling leaks, burst pipes, and poor conditions threaten priceless collections and result in costly repairs. The current building threatens MPM’s sustainability and risks bringing down Wisconsin’s most-visited museum.
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create an all-new destination for people and families across our state. With your support, we are building the Museum that our institution requires, our vision demands, and our state deserves. Together, we're creating a new wonder for Wisconsin, a state-of-the-art facility that’s alive with the wonders around us and unleashes the wonder within us.
Project Funding
To make this bold vision for our children, our communities, and our future a reality, we are seeking to raise $150 million in private philanthropic support, which will complement $90 million in anticipated government funding.
The $240 million cost includes: funds for the purchase of land; MPM collections relocation, construction, and design of the new building; exhibits; and $20 million in endowment to ensure the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin is sustainable well into the future.
We carefully and conservatively created a long term operating plan which has informed every aspect of the Museum's design and operations. Endowment funding is built into the project budget to ensure we raise the amount needed to care for the building long-term prior to opening.
Support the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin project by making a gift to our capital campaign, the Wisconsin Wonders campaign.
WISCONSIN WONDERS CAPITAL Campaign
We have raised $105 million in private funding toward the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin through the Wisconsin Wonders campaign!
With 80% of our total goal raised to date through public and private funding, we have made great strides — but only private philanthropy will drive this project over the finish line.
As we think of the students and civic leaders who gathered MPM’s first collections in 1851, the scientists and educators and philanthropists like you who made the Museum world-class, and the countless young people who first discovered the wonders of our world and a passion for science, world cultures, creativity, and art inside our Museum walls, one constant is clear: This Museum has always been there for us because it was made by us.
It’s time for partners and leaders in this generation to rise to the occasion and secure the future of this community treasure so it can inspire our children, advance our communities, and catalyze a stronger future for Wisconsin and our world.
Thank you to the Wisconsin Wonders Campaign Cabinet for their leadership throughout this campaign!
Public Funding
We have secured $86 million in public funding toward the Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin!
Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin State Legislature approved $40 million of bonded funds toward a new, state-of-the-art natural history museum in the 2021-23 state budget. This investment by the state of Wisconsin is truly transformational and fitting for the largest cultural project in Wisconsin history. And because it comes from bonds set aside for capital projects, this allocation will not impact the state’s operating budget.
In March 2022, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted to provide $45 million to fund the construction of the new Museum. This signified to the American Alliance of Museums that MPM has fulfilled our conditions for re-accreditation.
An additional $1 million in public funding has come from a variety of other sources, bringing us to a grand total of $86 million.