Throughout the month of December, the Charitable Giving Coalition will be featuring a variety of voices in the charitable sector through our Season of Giving Guest Blog Series. These posts feature a fraction of the endless good work America’s nonprofit organizations are doing.
The nationally recognized collections of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art bring together over 4,000 objects from the mid-18th century through the present, including a unique focus on the art of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The collections relate directly to the historical and cultural heritage of the region, and through them visitors learn about art as an expression of history and culture of the region.
In November 2018 after the tragic Tree of Life shootings that shook the Pittsburgh region and the nation, the Museum staff and board made the decision to move from a suggested donation admission model to offering completely free admission in order to remove this barrier, making The Westmoreland more accessible at time when cultural institutions were needed even more than ever.
This was only possible through the generous support of donors, who gave gifts at every level to help their community heal. People don’t give because they get a tax deduction, but the deduction helps them give more. I am struck by how many give what may seem to some like token gifts but are clearly expressions of generosity and altruism, and I am grateful to the Charitable Giving Coalition for advocating for the renewal and expansion of the universal charitable deduction.
Anne Kraybill
The Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO
Westmoreland Museum of American Art