0.8 Chapter six: attempting a turnaround, 1988-1992  (Page 18/19)

On the revenue side, Debs reemphasized the importance of unrestricted con­tributions to the Society's cash position. She pointed out "that it is the board's obligation to assure that there is sufficient time to work through the alternatives and options... in order to realize a new model for the Society." Debs's comments further illustrated the fact that the Society's emphasis was no longer on trying to operate the Society for long-term independent financial success; rather, it was focused on finding a solution through "a new model." At the same September board meeting, Debs announced that she had decided not to renew her contract to serve as president beyond her initial three-year term, which was to end on December 31, 1991. Debs did offer, however, to continue on without a contract beyond that date to lobby the state government in Albany for major support and to oversee continuing negotiations with other institutions about possible mergers and affiliations.

The Society's fundraising efforts were falling far short of expectations. By December, the development committee chairman reported that the Society had been able to raise only $500,000 of a $4 million goal in unrestricted contributions; trustee contributions were lagging far behind the performance of the three pre­vious years. In restricted contributions, the Society was faring better, with $1.5 million of a $2 million goal in hand; however, these grants did nothing to help the Society's depleted unrestricted reserves.

Meanwhile, the discussions between the MCNY and the Society yielded no agreement. In March 1992, the institutions decided to discontinue discussions. It was determined that "the costs of combining the two collections at a single institution proved to be unexpectedly high." A joint statement issued upon the announcement that the two institutions would remain independent said, "Both institutions hold the vision that uniting their unparalleled holdings would be a lasting benefit to New York and the nation. However, current financial and organizational realities indicate that merger would not result in a viable institu­tion at this time."

The published reasons given for the failure of the merger only begin to con­vey several important factors mat prevented the two entities from reaching agree­ment. First, merging two independent nonprofit institutions is an incredibly difficult task because there is no external market mechanism to force consensus. How does one decide, for example, who will lead the combined entity? If get­ting a single board to reach a consensus is difficult, getting two separate boards to forge an agreement in a timely way is next to impossible. In this case, it took six months even to get committees of the N-YHS and MCNY boards together for a meeting.