Open Collective

Save the Academy Coalition

COLLECTIVE
Fiscal Host:

Help us amp up our efforts. We are raising funds to use toward saving the Academy of Natural Sciences.

This is Save the Academy Coalition's pageSave the Academy Coalition
Contribute
About
Budget
Increased capacity for events...
$34,000
per year
Today's Balance
$47,271.13
Estimated Annual Budget
$80,455

Contribute

Become a financial contributor.

Financial Contributions

Custom contribution
Diatoms

Diatoms are single-celled algae invisible to the naked eye, but together they produce over 20% of the world’s oxygen! These “jewels of the sea” are... Read more

Starts at
$5 USD

Latest activity by

+ 344
Custom contribution
Butterfly

Butterfly wings are hydrophobic and have nano structures that shatter raindrops, allowing them to weather the storm. Help us help the academy get t... Read more

Starts at
$25 USD

Latest activity by

+ 331
Custom contribution
Diorama

The Academy Dioramas were the latest & greatest way to transport someone to another natural world when they debuted in 1930s. Some may say that the... Read more

Starts at
$50 USD

Latest activity by

+ 197
Custom contribution
Hadrosaurus

In 1868 this museum stood a dinosaur up for the first time anywhere on Earth. It was Hadrosaurus foulkii: dug out of a Haddonfield marl pit ten yea... Read more

Starts at
$250 USD

Latest activity by

+ 51
One-time contribution
T. rex

When the Academy's T. rex was first installed in 1986, it represented the cutting edge of dinosaur science of the time. Your extremely generous don... Read more

$1,000 USD

Latest activity by

+ 12
Custom contribution
Give what you can

Any amount, any schedule. Every dollar is public on this page.

Starts at
$2 USD

Latest activity by

+ 99

Save the Academy Coalition is all of us

Our contributors 1055

Thank you for supporting Save the Academy Coalition.

Chris Alfano

Admin

Isa Betancourt

Admin
We CAN save the Academy! Thanks for the support!

Sarah McAnulty

Admin

Guest

Give what you can

$2,500 USD

Matthew

T. rex

$2,000 USD

William

Give what you can

$1,500 USD

PocketParas

Give what you can

$1,085 USD

From the PocketParas community! SAVE THE MUSEUM...

Karen

T. rex

$1,000 USD

Lilith Paldanius

T. rex

$1,000 USD

Colin Sampson

T. rex

$1,000 USD

Colin

T. rex

$1,000 USD

Ruby

T. rex

$1,000 USD

Odysseus_

T. rex

$1,000 USD

Filip Hellberg

T. rex

$1,000 USD

About

The museum closed for good on September 27 unless something changes.  
We are volunteers working to change it.

What your money does

Every dollar goes to the campaign's public work, for example:
  • Print and signage: flyers, posters, banners and Save The Academy hand fans for the museum's last open days, and the events after.
  • Events: permits, sound, tables and supplies for public gatherings and school outreach.
  • Getting people there: transit, out-of-pocket costs for volunteers covering events, press, and public meetings.
  • The tools for the website, the email list, and the story wall.

We are planning in-person events for the last weekend of September that we need funds for. Details soon!

Set the hearing! 
Open the books!
Protect the assets!
Save the public museum.

How it is handled

This project is fiscally sponsored by the Center for Philadelphia's Urban Future (CPUF), a Philadelphia nonprofit. CPUF receives and holds every contribution, pays approved expenses against receipts, and keeps 5% to cover its costs. Every contribution and every expense is public on this page. We report spending against our budget monthly. Funds pay for public education, community organizing and events; none of it goes to political candidates or election campaigns, and lobbying stays a small, tracked part of what we do.

What is going on?

On September 1, 2026, Drexel University and the Academy Board announced that the Academy of Natural Sciences' public museum at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway will close at the end of the month. Announcing closure just weeks beforhand?! We do not accept this direction.   The Academy of Natural Sciences is an irreplaceable scientific and cultural landmark.  From Thomas Jefferson’s fossils to plant specimens from the Lewis and Clark expedition, the priceless 19 million specimens draw researchers from around the world.
The opening of the public museum in 1828, established a forum for presenting the collections, sharing knowledge, educating students, and inspiring the next generation of scientists. For generations of Philadelphia school children, the Academy is where a dinosaur first stopped being just a picture in a book or screen.
The Academy is the oldest natural history museum in the United States, and yet, in our country’s 250th year, it is slated to close.
The Save the Academy Coalition is a volunteer group of scientists, teachers, Academy members, Philadelphians and more who found each other in the week after the announcement. In two weeks we have put more than 300 people on the Parkway, drawn a following of 4,000 on our instagram, gathered more than 7,500 petition signatures, built a website with action items and a wall of community stories. We've brought City Council to the table: on September 17, Councilmembers Nina Ahmad and Jeffery Young Jr. introduced a resolution calling for hearings on the closure. That hearing will happen on Monday, October 26th 2026.
Your monetary support empowers us to amp up our efforts.

Who we are

We are not affiliated with the Academy of Natural Sciences or with Drexel University. We are the people who love the museum and want it open. Read more, sign the petition and share your story at https://save-the-academy.org/
Any leftover funds at the end of the campaign will go to the care of the Academy research collections or museum.

Budget

Transparent and open finances.

Financial contribution to Save the Academy Coalition (Dia...

Credit from William Rulon-Miller to Save the Academy Coalition •

+$5.00USD
Completed
Contribution #986502
Financial contribution to Save the Academy Coalition (Dio...

Credit from Mason to Save the Academy Coalition •

+$50.00USD
Completed
Contribution #986481
Financial contribution to Save the Academy Coalition (Dia...

Credit from Alastair to Save the Academy Coalition •

+$5.00USD
Completed
Contribution #986425
$
Today’s balance

$47,271.13 USD

Total raised

$59,651.74 USD

Total disbursed

$12,380.61 USD

Estimated annual budget

$80,455.18 USD