Philanthropist Robert Wilson Issues $50 Million
Challenge Grant To World Monumnets Fund
NEW YORK CITY - Noted philanthropist Robert W. Wilson has issued
a $50 million challenge to the New York City-based World
Monuments Fund (WMF), a private nonprofit organization dedicated
to the preservation of historic monuments worldwide. Wilson's
commitment provides significant funding for WMF's many projects,
including those on the World Monument Watch List of 100 Most
Endangered Sites, and induces individuals, foundations, and
governments outside the United States to contribute to
preservation. To date, more than $10 million in WMF funding from
the Wilson Challenge has leveraged more than $22 million in
additional contributions from 35 countries.
The challenge continues Wilson's commitment to the World
Monuments Fund, of which he has been a trustee since 1990. He has
been by far the largest single donor in the organization's
history. When fully met, the Wilson challenge monies, together
with international matching funds, will exceed $100 million.
WMF brings public and private support together through a program
of advocacy, fieldwork, technical assistance, and other
activities to safeguard imperiled monuments and works of art. One
of the organization's most powerful tools is the World Monuments
Watch program and its biennial List of 100 Most Endangered Sites,
which identifies important sites worldwide that are in need of
immediate aid and helps to ensure their rescue.
WMF projects have included the vast Hindu-Buddhist temple complex
in Angkor, Cambodia; the Easter Island sculptures; a historic
Jewish synagogue in Krakow, Poland; a mosque in Ghana; the dome
of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris; the stone lions of the New
York Public Library; the adobe churches of New Mexico; the Alvar
Aalto-designed Viipuri Library in Russia and more than 25 sites
in Venice.
For information, 646-424-9594 or visit www.worldmonuments.org.
