Mystic Seaport Annual Reports

A Message from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Dear Fellow Mystic Seaport Members and Friends,

As I enter my final year as your Chairman, I would like to express my thanks to every member of our staff, to our trustees, to our many volunteers, and to our many donors for all of their efforts and contributions over the past year.

Overall fiscal 2011-2012 financial results continued to demonstrate steady progress over prior years.

An encouraging indicator of the continuing appeal of our exhibits and programs was that we were able to achieve an increase in paid attendance despite the disruption of hurricane Irene at the peak of our season. Educational programs such as Williams-Mystic also enjoyed a year of strong enrollment and strong financial results.

Helped by a favorable stock market, our total endowment reached about $42 million which was well above the level several years ago. Equally important, the percentage our endowment used to fund operations reached 4.8%, the lowest level in recent years. It is now in line with institutions having similarly sized endowments.

In addition, Mystic Seaport received over $1 million in bequests, which not only enabled our overall operating income to exceed operating expenses in 2011-2012, but also allowed us, along with sales of certain non-strategic properties, to make a meaningful impact on the large backlog of deferred maintenance projects.

Looking ahead, we continue to focus on increasing the annual level of contributions as well as completing the capital campaigns for the Charles W. Morgan, a state-of-the art exhibitions gallery, and adding to the capabilities of our talented staff. These critical goals will require significant additional funding from our many loyal friends as well as from new friends and supporters.

Nevertheless, all of us in the present generation of members, staff, trustees, and other supporters are committed to ensure that there is a bright future for this uplifting and vitally important enterprise called Mystic Seaport—just as those who came before us did and those who will follow will surely do.

With your help and support, we will be able to advance our mission to educate the public to the continuing importance of the American maritime experience as an underpinning to the story of America and its people.

Richard R. Vietor
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

This message is from the 2011-2012 Annual Report.