Community Support is Needed More Than Ever
RANCHO MIRAGE (June 3, 2022) – The Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert (CDMoD) was awarded a matching grant by the City of Rancho Mirage in the amount of $150,000 towards the museum’s Re-IMAGINATION capital campaign. In a unanimous vote on February 17th, Rancho Mirage City Council approved the grant as matching funds in order to inspire and maximize community donations towards the project. The matching grant campaign began February 17 and runs until June 12.
“We need our community’s support more than ever as we near the deadline for the matching grant for the City of Rancho Mirage. If we can raise $58,000 more, we will be able to receive the full match of $150,000,” stated Cindy Burreson, CEO of the museum. “We have received generous support from our community from individuals, businesses, and organizations such as The Rancho Mirage Women’s Club and Rancho Mirage Rotary Club as well as several fundraising events and even Facebook Fundraisers driven by our Board of Directors.”
With a goal of raising $3 million before December 2022 to reopen, the museum has already passed the halfway mark, with a diversity of funding sources and community support that includes grants, major gifts from individual donors, grassroots gifts and matching funds from the City of Rancho Mirage.
The Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert has been closed since March of 2020. The Re-IMAGINATION campaign is a multi-phase capital campaign to replace the original exhibits and reopen the museum. At the time when the pandemic forced the museum’s closure, 85% of the organization’s income had been coming from memberships, admissions, and gift sales. With no visitors to provide revenue, the museum had little choice but to suspend operations and lay off staff.
During that time of uncertainty, the board conducted introspective conversations about what it would take to not just re-open the museum, but to renew the organization for decades to come. The bold decision was made to create a full-scale revitalization and mount a capital campaign in order to restore this treasured community resource which the matching grant will help support.
“This matching grant will help to provide funds to construct more than 40 new hands-on exhibits that is at the core of our Re-IMAGINATION project and allow us to reopen our doors for children and families who live in and who visit Greater Palm Springs,” states Burreson, “We need our community’s continued support and the campaign ends on June 12 on National Children’s Day.”
The Children’s Discovery Museum is a space which allows children to experience joy and laughter, to make happy memories with their families, and forget about the grown-up problems of the world. It gives children a place to explore, imagine, learn, and express in creative ways. Children’s museums, in general, are popular, yet neutral, sources of information, attract a diverse cross-section of people and provide shared experiences through interpretative and interactive exhibits. They are uniquely positioned to help reverse stigma and discrimination. In a time when the world is faced with trauma, the presence of a strong children’s museum in the desert community will provide a safe-haven to help families re-establish the normalcy of childhood.
Community members are invited to make donations. All efforts are welcome. Please give today by visiting www.cdmod.org. Under the Rancho Mirage matching grant, donations will be matched 100% up to $150,000. Checks may be mailed to CDMoD 71-701 Gerald Ford Drive, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270.
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ABOUT THE CHILDREN’S DISCOVERY MUSEUM OF THE DESERT:
The Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert is a valuable community resource for children and families to experience the joy of learning about themselves and the world around them. The museum inspires personal growth by engaging curiosity and creativity through hands-on explorations of exhibits and programs. Learning: The Museum values being a space which nurtures thoughtful, hands-on learning in a creative and engaging environment that celebrates learning as an innately joyful activity. Family: The Museum values being a place where multigenerational family members can grow their relationships through comfortably exploring, sharing, and learning together. Community: The Museum values being a community resource and a welcoming safe space where people of all ages and backgrounds can come together to share experiences while learning about themselves and the world about them.
