Mayborn Museum

The Mayborn Museum has set an ambitious goal to raise $9 million as part of the Give Light Campaign in order to advance the priorities and areas of growth highlighted within Illuminate, the University Strategic Plan.

During the Give Light Campaign, the Mayborn Museum’s staff will focus their fundraising efforts in the following priority areas:

• Capital enhancements to improve the Museum’s ability to foster engagement with exhibits and host a more robust and varied complement of exhibitions for the Central Texas and Baylor communities.
• Endowment and programmatic support to broaden and deepen internship opportunities for Baylor’s students.

The following are the Mayborn Museum’s highest priority fundraising projects that are being highlighted in the current phase of the Give Light Campaign. The Museum will bring forward other opportunities for the Baylor Family to support work of the Mayborn Museum.

Natural and Cultural History Exhibits: $6.1 million

The Museum’s natural and cultural history collection boasts a rich and varied collection of exhibitions, including the Waco Mammoth Site, as well as the multi-floor discovery center and the Anding Traveling Exhibit Gallery. The Museum is seeking support for facility improvements to renovate some of these highly-trafficked areas so that the staff and museum can serve the changing needs of its museum-goers.

Expansion of Collections Storage: $2 million

The Mayborn Museum is also in need of funding for expansions to its collections storage. The museum’s collection includes more than 250,000 items that encompass cultural history, geosciences and biosciences. The storage facilities both at the museum and off-site are at capacity with no room to expand. As a nationally accredited institution, the Mayborn strives to meet best practices in caring for the artifacts it holds for future generations. The museum is seeking funding to address the inadequate off-site storage and expand the storage facility at the museum.

Additional Capital Improvements: $850,000

Along with improvements to how the museum displays and preserves and stores its collections, the Mayborn’s staff is seeking funding to improve and update the Museum’s SBC Theater. The Museum also needs endowment support to provide permanent funding to help secure noteworthy traveling exhibits each year.