Here’s a followup to the New York Times’ post about the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) and the Museum of the Earth’s financial woes… they found funding and will continue operation!

By late summer, although gifts continued to arrive at roughly twice the rate of previous “normal” years, larger gifts had slowed and we were still about $1 million away from being able to pay off our mortgage. But in early October one of our Board members wrote a short letter to The Ithaca Times, and this resulted in a front page story. At around the same time, we hired a public relations firm to assist us in getting the word out to other media. Eventually, these efforts began to show results. We were featured in an article in the Albany Times Union, and several radio and TV news spots across the state. Donations began to increase.

It wasn’t just adults who offered to help. Alex Howard, age 14, lives in Horseheads, NY, near Elmira. He  has wanted to be a paleontologist for as long as he can remember. He and his mother Liz have been volunteers in the Museum of the Earth for the past year, since the family moved from Philadelphia. After he heard about PRI’s financial trouble, Alex wanted to do something about it. He put together a display board with information about PRI and showed it at an event put on by the Finger Lakes Gem, Mineral & Fossil Club in Corning on November 22. He solicited donations for PRI from attendees, and gave fossils from his own collection to each donor. His efforts raised more than $2,400. I passed Alex’s story on to our PR firm, and as a result he and his mom were interviewed on CBS Morning News in early December and also mentioned in a story about PRI’s situation that appeared in The New York Times on December 18.

On November 7, we received a hand-written note from an 8-year-old girl who said she did not want us to close. She enclosed $40.80 “that I have saved to donate to the Museum of the Earth.” On December 11, we received a note from the family in Syracuse. “Our 8-year-old daughter said that all she wanted for Christmas was to support the Museum”, they wrote, and enclosed a check for $1000.

Professionals also stepped up to do their part. One in particular, Professor Carlton Brett of the University of Cincinnati, made it a mission to raise awareness and funds, tirelessly contacting colleagues and friends of friends. The two largest professional organizations of paleontologists in the country, the Paleontological Society and SEPM/Society of Sedimentary Geology, took the very unusual step of including a fundraising appeal in their regular communications to their members. More donations came in.

As a result of all of this activity, plus a few unexpected windfalls of government funding and bequests, altogether PRI raised $4,469,603 in calendar 2025, enough to pay off our entire mortgage and remain solvent through the June 30, 2026, the end of our fiscal year.