Financials 2023-2024
The Athenæum of Philadelphia again maintained a balanced budget in fiscal year 2024. The generous support of members and friends, as well as our growing membership rolls, strong program audience and local and state grants supported general operating costs not covered by the endowment. As a result, The Athenæum was able to strengthen programming, address building maintenance needs and add two much needed full-time staff positions near the end of the fiscal year. Our library experienced a strong year with below budget total expenses of $1,541,612 and total revenues of $1,799,972 exceeding expectations.
Financial Position
The Athenæum Board and staff practice conservative annual budget planning. While taking current and projected economic trends into account, we also align our annual budgeting process with strategic goals and priorities in order to maximize the impact of our resources.
In FY2024, higher expenditures resulted from the increased use of our building and our services that outpaced funds development. The financials reflect the need for more staffing for library, archives and programming support; on-going building maintenance; and higher accounting costs due to the switch to a new provider in FY2023. Personnel remain the biggest budget item. Our professional staff enable access to our building, collections, books and programs. Through collections care and member and guest support, they foster our unique learning community. Maintaining competitive salaries and benefits is a key to retaining excellent staff.
New memberships exceeded expectations, with an average of one new member per day. Annual Fund contributions were lower than expected early in the year. As a result, the staff reigned in expenditures most of FY2024. The success of the Spring Appeal, combined with lowered expenses, allowed The Athenæum to finish the year with a slight surplus. The surplus allowed us to hire two sorely needed, new full-time positions: a Director of Programs and Engagement and an Associate Archivist Librarian. In light of end of year financial projections, the Board also decided not to draw any unneeded portion of the annual allotted unrestricted endowment draw.
The Athenæum also received support in the form of grants from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. A growing number of Athenaeum members are supporting the Athenaeum through gifts made from their private family foundations.
Contributions by Type
$1,799,972 total for 2024
No Data Found
Values $US | Compared with contributions of $1,593,717 for 2023.
Programmatic Expenses
$1,541,612 total for 2024
No Data Found
Values $US | Compared with expenses of $1,399,299 for 2023.
Liabilities & Net Assets
$60,955,838 total for 2024
No Data Found
Endowments
The Athenæum of Philadelphia’s endowment enables our library to carry out our 210-year old mission to provide access to knowledge and community through collections, preservation, research and programs in our National Historic Landmark home.
Philadelphia merchant John Livezey (1798-1878) left The Athenæum a $10,000 bequest that became our earliest endowed book fund. Since then, our endowment has grown to 96 endowed funds totalling $17,848,845 at the close of FY2024. The majority of these funds are either donor or board restricted funds for specific purposes: book purchases, collections care, lecture funds or symposia. The Charles Peterson Fellowship and Prize funds support research work undertaken by students and researchers outside The Athenæum.
For more than a century, The Athenæum has also benefited as one of five beneficiaries of the Lewis Elkin Trust. The annual income from this trust accounted for 17% of our income this past year. As the 5% budgeted draw from The Athenæum’s endowment this past year represented 36% of our total income, total endowment funding supported just over half of our expenses in FY2024.
The Athenæum Investment Committee works closely with PNC to oversee prudent investment of our endowments. Our investments recorded unrealized gains of $2,368,534 as of June 30, 2024.
The Athenæum is many things. It’s a source of knowledge and discovery, especially about Philadelphia’s built environment but about many other areas of interest as well. It’s a place to meet and get to know interesting people. And its building is unusually beautiful and important, which I find thrilling and inspiring.