Please explain to me. Do you just pay anything you want to? Do you pay at all? Thanks!

We always pay $5 - $10 per person.

Unless you're absolutely starving, please pay the "suggested" donation, it's just a fraction of the actual cost-per-visit for these places.

I totally agree with Anonymous. The museums are really hurting financially these days.....and you certainly get more than your money's worth!

Please, unless you're a starving student, pay the suggested amount.

(Exception -- If you're visiting only the Roof Garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a glass of wine, in my opinion as a member of the museum it's okay to pay less, perhaps $5.)

Even though I am a fairly frugal person and am always looking for ways to cut expenses, I always donate the suggested amount or more. Museums are important to me, so I have no problem supporting them.

NYC Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art are not state or federally funded and rely soley on private monies to keep them afloat.

Please pay the full suggested entrance so these wonderful places will be around for the ages.

Gekko - My husband and I want to stop in just to see the Tree this trip. Do you think $5 each is reasonable for that?

Recently we went to the Cloisters (part of the Metropolitan) in the morning and paid our full price. We were given little clip on tags so when we got to the main Metropolitan, we walked right through. We were asked by a couple of other tourists where we had gotten the little pins and we told them. Both said, you mean you're supposed to pay to come here? We walked right in past the guard and no one said a word to us or asked for tickets.

I was amazed that many people apparently don't pay anything but just walk in. It never occurred to me that they really don't take or check tickets. I agree though, unless you absolutely can't afford it, you should be paying the suggested amount!!

Patrick, as far as I know, the guards are supposed to check for the right-colored button at the Met when people enter from the foyer. Perhaps the guard was distracted when those people walked through.

I had always wondered...why not just sell tickets with a turnstile? They can offer cheap student tickets if they want to keep it affordable kinda like broadway does. I had always thought it might be because public funding requires it to be free but if it's private? Or is it a tax-exempt charitable requirement??

No, the idea is that the supporters want to make sure that the benfits of these incredible institutions are open to all - even the poor/low income - without the embarassament of having to prove that they are poor. Therefore, the donation policy - unless you are poor you should always give the suggesed amount - which is quite modest (no more than a movie).

mcqueeney, if all you plan to do is walk in the museum and admire the tree, then Yes, I think $5 is a sufficient donation.

By the way, if you visit the Metropolitian more than a few times per year, it makes sense to become a member. Check it out at www.metmuseum.org

Like most museums, the Met is a not for profit institution. I strongly suspect the IRS views "donations" differently than "admission fees" for tax purposes.

GoTravel, the Met gets some of its funding directly from NYC. It gets an additional portion of its funding from grants many of which are state and federal (NEA) agencies.

However, public funding of the arts is WAY down and I agree with all the others who say pay the suggested amount.

obx, would you share with me where you found this information that the MMofA gets public money? Two things make me think this isn't true.

1) Distant (way distant) cousin is a docent and I asked and he said absolutely not. He said the MMofA is completely and totally privately funded.

2) From the website;

"As a privately funded nonprofit institution, The Metropolitan Museum of Art must rely on the generosity of its friends and supporters to meet the enormous cost of providing programs and services, year-round, to millions of local, national, and international visitors."

Gotravel,

If you dig through the met website, you'll see that the city of New York provides grant money:

http://www.metmuseum.org/news/newspr...0902786BF44%7D

Not sure what the overall % of budget is.

Of course, GoTravel. My first source is a friend and another who is an acquaintance who do corporate fundraising in Colonial Wmburg and the Met, respectively. Last spring both were bemoaning the public (fed, state, city) funding slashes due to Congressional budget cuts and state/city fiscal crises. Their groups were being pressured to go shake even more $ out of the corporate trees. Corp donations have also tanked since the stock market did the same.

So my opinions wouldn't only be hearsay, I did a google search on federal funding and the Met and go this reprint from the LA Times:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,515040282,00.html

Also did a google on NEA and the Met and came up with some grant examples...I've lost that url but will chase it down again if you like.

Seems clear that the bulk of funding comes from corporate and richer than God individuals. I was surprised to see what a small percentage public and admission $ played in the big picture.

Referring to nytraveler's comment about free admission promoting art and culture for all, apparently the big guys in London (Brit Mu, V&A, Tate etc) are struggling to make up the difference in funding since the British government made them eliminate "suggested donations." I seem to recall some joke about a sign in the Tate regarding underwriting the toilet paper. Probably a goof but a indication of the problem!

Also, NYC owns the land which the Met sits on, and they paid $65M towards the MOMA rennovation.

Thanks obx! Very interesting stuff and I figured that it wasn't hearsay. I'm also thinking if you add in the tax exempt status from a non profit, that adds up to a pretty penny yearly.

I don't know about all the museums (I have a friend who works at the museum of natural history and says they need money)but the Met has a huge endowment. I pay 2 dollars when I go in (unless I go w/my friend and she gets us into all the city museums for free.) The Frick has no suggested admission though- but is well worth the full price.