In a remarkable turnaround, the Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education in San Mateo, which seemed doomed to extinction a month ago, is now poised for a new future.
On September 5, the board of the struggling museum voted unanimously to accept a proposal from the Committee to Save Coyote Point Museum to fix the finances and make it into a world-class environmental learning center.
“The depth and breadth of community support for the museum is overwhelming,” said Linda Lanier of Hillsborough, who co-chaired the campaign with former museum director Linda Liebes of Atherton.
The campaign took off July 31 after it was learned that the 11th Hour Project, a low-profile organization, wanted to take over the three-acre property to build a center focused on global warming. After the controversy broke out, the 11th Hour Project withdrew its proposal and said it would pursue its climate center elsewhere in the Bay Area.
In 30 days, the Campaign to Save Coyote Point Museum raised $540,247 in pledges from 776 donors to save the troubled museum and put it on its feet. Their goal had been to raise $300,000 by August 31.
The Tomkat Foundation also pledged $500,000 over four years, Ms. Liebes said.
As part of the new regime, a group of 17 new members will join the existing 15-member board to run the museum. Many new board members served on the board when the museum was healthy, before Ms. Liebes left in 1996. “Everybody is going to be working together,” Ms. Liebes told the Almanac.
Among those taking seats on the new governing board are former congressman Pete McCloskey and Jacques Littlefield from Portola Valley; former Menlo Park planning commissioner Eric Richert; Tom Brown of Atherton; and Mary Anne Sayler of Woodside. Ms. Liebes will chair a new advisory council.
First off, the new board will establish an exhibit committee and a program committee, Lanier proposed. The exhibit committee will tackle immediate upgrades while it plans major renovations to the Environmental Hall.
Lanier dreams of creating a “dynamic, ever-changing destination, using the best thinking in Silicon Valley and the best thinking in environmental exhibit design.”
The program committee plans to work on expanding programs for school children, developing a speaker series with nationally recognized environmentalists, and holding outdoor education programs at a ranch near Pescadero.
The proposal, written by Ms. Liebes, tackles organizational problems that led to the museum’s decline over the last 10 years as it went through eight executive directors. The board will hire an executive director with full authority over the museum’s operation, and establish a definite division of responsibilities between the board and the executive director, Ms. Liebes said.
The board will also hire a new director of development for fundraising. The proposed budget calls for raising the endowment by $1 million a year. “There’s no mystery. It’s just a matter of doing it,” Ms. Liebes said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for former vice president Al Gore responded to inquiries by the Almanac about Gore’s relationship with the 11th Hour Project. “We do not have a statement, but Mr. Gore has no affiliation with this group,” the spokesman said.
