Advocacy Alert – January 10, 2025
In this Alliance Advocacy Alert:
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One Week Left to Register: Museums Advocacy Day 2025
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President Trump to Take Office, 119th Congress Convenes: Museums Need to Mobilize Now
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Take Action: What You Can Do
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January Advocacy Tip: Economic and Education Impact Statements
Museums Advocacy Day 2025 – Registration Closes January 17
This is your last chance to register for Museums Advocacy Day 2025! The start of the year will be a pivotal time to advocate for museums as a new Congress begins and the Administration changes over.
Museums Advocacy Day is taking place on February 24-25, 2025 in Arlington, VA and Washington, DC. New to advocacy? We’ve got you covered. On day one, you’ll participate in a day-long program to prepare you for your Congressional visits, all of which we schedule for you. On day two, you’ll spend the day putting what you learned into action when you visit your members of Congress’ offices in Washington, DC, ending the day at our Congressional reception. For more information and to view frequently asked questions, visit the Museums Advocacy Day webpage. Read Museums Advocacy Day success stories.
We need representation from as many states as possible, don’t assume your state is covered. You can make a difference!
Join this powerful opportunity to combine our collective voices to share the unique value of museums of all types and sizes across the country. Your participation matters.
Unable to attend Museums Advocacy Day but want to help make the case for museums? Visit AAM’s Advocate from Anywhere page for other advocacy activities.
President Trump to Take Office, 119th Congress Convenes: Museums Need to Mobilize Now
There will soon be a transfer of power to a new administration and the 119th Congress recently convened. Now comes the governing, policymaking, and setting of federal budget priorities. President-elect Trump will have a “trifecta,” although with a slim Republican majority in the Senate and and an even slimmer majority in the House of Representatives. Now is when our work begins in earnest. Congress continues to work on FY 2025 funding. In December, Congress passed a second Continuing Resolution that will keep the federal government running at FY 2024 levels until March 14.
In the coming weeks, President-elect Trump will release a formal budget plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, which begins October 1, 2025, and then Congress will begin the work of writing bills to fund federal government agencies and programs (and to complete the process for the current fiscal year, which began October 1, 2024).
We need every museum professional, every trustee, and every volunteer to speak with one voice to help preserve these vital agencies. We have the power to make our voices and priorities heard, and as a united field, fight for museums.
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IMLS, NEH, and NEA: Recall that previous Republican-controlled Congresses did not enact past Trump budgets that would have eliminated funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). In fact, Congress ignored the Trump Administration’s requests and increased funding. We don’t expect funding increases now due to changes in the composition of the lawmakers in Congress. However, we know that members of Congress do not want to vote for bills that will cost jobs in their district or harm their constituents. We need to keep speaking up for these and other vital federal programs that benefit museums and the communities they serve. Support for museums is strong, regardless of political persuasion:
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96% of Americans would approve of lawmakers who acted to support museums.
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96% of Americans think positively of their elected officials for taking legislative action to support museums.
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Three-quarters of the public believe museums are an important part of our civil society.
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The total economic contribution of museums in 2016 amounted to more than $50 billion in GDP, 726,200 jobs, and $12 billion in taxes to local, state, and federal governments.
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Tax Reform: Congress is expected to pivot quickly to debate a major tax package in 2025 as the 2017 Trump tax cuts are set to expire. Museums could see increased revenue and public support if a non-itemizer charitable deduction, such as the one proposed in last Congress’ bipartisan Charitable Act (S. 566, H.R. 3435), expected to be reintroduced soon, is included in the package. AAM has been a long-time advocate of the non-itemizer charitable deduction and is a member of the Charitable Giving Coalition, a broad coalition of charitable nonprofits working to boost charitable giving. AAM also will be working to oppose harmful polices some think tanks are currently proposing, such as the Tax Foundation’s disastrous proposal to require nonprofits, including museums, to pay the regular corporate income tax rate on any earned income. Additionally, Congress previously has shown interest in establishing rules for private foundation museums to ensure they are adequately accessible by the general public.
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Reinforcing Bipartisan Support for Museums Is Critical. Museums have always enjoyed support from both sides of the political aisle, and we will continue to build relationships with all our elected officials—learning about their priorities, finding common ground, and ensuring that lawmakers know that museums are essential to their communities.
Take Action: What You Can Do
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Take Action Now to Support Funding for Museums: Use our templates to urge your legislators to support at least $55.5 million for OMS and support at least $209 million each for the NEH and NEA.
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Take Action to Support Increased Charitable Giving: Use our template to urge your legislators to support the nonitemizer deduction.
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Share Your Connections: The AAM Government Relations & Advocacy staff looks forward to working with the new Congress. We know that you may already have connections with your new or returning members of Congress. If you have not already, we hope you will share that information with us by filling out our Washington Connections Contact Form, so we can work together on outreach.
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Invite Legislators to Visit your Museum: We also encourage you to introduce and/or invite returning and new members of Congress to visit your institution and tell them your story about the positive impact you have on improving your community.
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Engage Your Board Members in Advocacy: Download a copy of Stand for Your Museum Mission and begin a dialogue with your board about how they can play an important role in advocating for your museum.
January Advocacy Tip: Economic and Education Impact Statements
Do you have an economic and/or education impact statement for your museum? Economic and education impact statements are impactful in advocacy efforts at all levels of government, no matter if you are advocating at the federal, state or local level. These statements highlight the impact your museum has on your community. As we start a new year, now is a great time to prepare your impact statements, share them with your legislators, and invite them to visit your museum. View economic and education impact statement templates and samples.
Your steadfast advocacy efforts make a big difference in building needed support for museums and museum professionals.
Looking for more advocacy tools and resources? Visit the Advocacy section of the AAM Resource Library today!
Visit http://www.aam-us.org/advocacy to learn more about AAM’s advocacy for museums.
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