Substantial donations in the offing for Guggenheim Museum
Major owner of the Sanoma Group Rafaela Seppälä calls for tax breaks for Guggenheim support
Rafaela Seppälä
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Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth
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The Guggenheim Foundation’s licence payments for a Guggenheim museum that is being planned in Helsinki would amount to USD 30 million or more than EUR 24 million, spread over 20 years.
The licence fee would cover only the right to use the name Guggenheim.
The purpose would be to cover the entire sum by donations made by corporations and private persons.
One of the main owners of the Sanoma Group, Rafaela Seppälä, says that she is ready to support Helsinki’s Guggenheim, provided that the donors will be granted a similar tax exemption to the one given to the Aalto University.
”I support this project. It is a unique opportunity to place Finland on the map of the art world and to encourage the international art audience to get acquainted with Finnish art”, Seppälä says.
”If the tax exemption were granted, I could take part in the venture myself”, she adds.
All donations of up to EUR 250,000 made to Aalto University were tax deductible.
”Private funding will have to be involved in culture projects, as the society has so many needs,” Seppälä continues.
”I emphasise that the funds that are invested in Guggenheim will not be taken away from any other institutions in Finland. Instead the investments will increase interest in them, too”, argues Seppälä, who is the Chair of the Board of Galerie Forsblom.
Investor and art collector Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth, who is the Finnish member of the Board of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, believes that even international financiers will want to support Helsinki’s Guggenheim venture.
”Guggenheim is ultimately an international network”, Ehrnrooth says.
Ehrnrooth himself intends to donate some money to the project.
”I plan to make a contribution to the fund-raising campaign to the best of my abilities. The best way to help is to make a donation and tell other people about it. I hope that the base of donors would be as wide as possible, and that the fund-raising campaign would turn into a sort of national movement”, Ehrnrooth noted.
He says that many donors are following the progress of the project with interest.
”The more certain the project becomes, the more money people will donate”, he adds.
The Guggenheim Foundation demands significant donations from the members of its Board, which tells a lot about Guggenheim’s donation culture.
Ehrnrooth is not willing to comment on any precise sums.
Instead of traditional donations, corporations and private people increasingly often want to get some value for their investments.
”In cases like this, almost all external funding consists of investments. Most frequently, investors want to get some return for their money”, says Sanna-Mari Jäntti, Development Director, World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.
Previously, Jäntti has taken care of the fund-raising campaigns for the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma and Sibelius Academy, for example.
”In Finland, pure donations are not made often, as the taxation system does not actively encourage them”, says Jäntti.
”Guggenheim is an extremely interesting target for financiers, as it has many prospects for private investors. For example, the building itself, museum operations, training, and technology”, Jäntti concludes.
More on this subject:
 Working group favours construction of Guggenheim museum in Helsinki
NEWS ANALYSIS: Guggenheim study no guarantee
Helsingin Sanomat
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