LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Arts Center is slightly behind its projected budget, but the staff said it is still on track to finish the year in the black.
The center, which has had financial struggles in recent years, ended October $73,197 behind its year-to-date budget projection, according to documents presented toboard members Monday.
That balance is the result of some donors fulfilling pledges later than the staff projected, some revenue shortfalls and an unusual amount of one-time expenses, deputy director of operations Laine Harber told the board.
“We are on track,” he said. “We are very tight, but it’s the timing of when cash is goingout and when cash is going in that’s creating a little bit of pressure.”
The center’s $6 million budget for the current fiscal year, which started July 1, is “very, very tight,” Harber said.
“We are literally floating on basically a zero cash balance all year,” he said.
That budget calls for about $2.5 million in donations throughout the year.
The center ended October about $88,000 short of its $699,000 projection for donor contributions, contributing to a $133,000 year-to-date revenue shortfall.
Revenue from the Museum School and the gift shop also were behind projections, the budget showed.
Van Tilbury, a member of the board’s developmentcommittee, said many donors are increasing their pledges, but they are fulfilling those pledges later in the year, setting the budget slightly off track.
Some donors also are shifting their annual giving to sponsorships for Tabriz, the museum’s biennial fundraiser scheduled for May, he said.
Large year-to-date expenses included exhibit costs, advertising and travel.
The budget includes nearly year-to-date personnel costs that are about $30,000 less than projected.
That extra money is because of several staff vacancies, Harber said. It was offset slightly by severance payments the arts center made to laid-off staff members, he said.
Those layoffs were part of a plan to right the center’s finances. The museum also replaced its three-person inhouse marketing staff witha contract with Stone Ward Advertising.
The Arkansas Arts Center has worked to balance its books after the World of the Pharaohs exhibit, displayed in 2009 and 2010, failed to attract as many visitors as the center projected.
Donations to the center’s foundation helped pull the organization out of about $2.1 million in debt last summer.
The center finished its fiscal year ending June 30 about $605,000 below overall budget projections because of a number of unexpected costs and about $500,000 in missed fundraising goals.
The group was able to finish the year in the black in terms of cash assets.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/13/2012