Museums faced a whirlwind of brutal challenges in 2025. It wasn't just the federal government cancelling grants , leaving museums with holes in their budgets to fill. But President Trump's targeting of museum programming led to downstream effects on funding, putting a "chill on corporate philanthropy," according to Marilyn Jackson, president and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums.

"We're seeing corporations and foundations thinking twice about funding certain projects or programs they would have naturally funded in the past, because of all these executive orders that came down," Jackson said.

The group just issued a new report highlighting an extremely rocky 2025: after-school programs and programming for seniors and veterans were cut, and new exhibitions and maintenance proje

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