178th Annual Report April 1, 2009 ~ March 31, 2010 Mount Auburn Cemetery A National Historic Landmark Mount Auburn Cemetery Photos by Jennifer J. Johnston, except: 580 Mount Auburn Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Cover: Baltimore Oriole, Painted Turtle, and Cardinals by 617-547-7105 George McLean; Robin’s Nest by Brian A. Sullivan www.mountauburn.org Page 3: Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly by George McLean; Ann M. Roosevelt Steps by Brian A. Sullivan Chair of the Board of Trustees Page 5: Bunny by Brian A. Sullivan David P. Barnett Page 6: Raccoon by George McLean; President & CEO Scilla by Brian A. Sullivan Michael A. Albano Page 7: Robin’s Nest by Brian A. Sullivan Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration/CFO Page 8: Oven Bird by George McLean Priscilla P. Morris Senior Vice President of Development Page 9: Saw Whet Owl by George McLean Lauren S. Marsh Page 10: Japanese Maple and Urn by Brian A. Sullivan Managing Editor Page 15: Hummingbird by George McLean Jennifer J. Johnston Page 16: Great Blue Heron by George McLean Photography Editor Elizabeth A. Bonadies Designer P + R Publications, Inc. Printer 178th178th Annual Report Message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees Fiscal year 2010 has been another challenging one at Mount Auburn Cemetery, but it has also brought much success. President Dave Barnett and his leadership team have done more with fewer funds and continued to maintain this National Historic Landmark to exacting standards. The staff and Trustees worked hard to successfully meet all their goals, and, in a year of further economic downturn, Mount Auburn has still managed to exceed its fundraising goals, and there are exciting plans brewing as the possibility of a new expansion has become a reality. The Trustees and staff have known for some time that the greenhouses built in 1971 are now obsolete and in need of replacement. Along with this understanding came a thrilling opportunity – the chance to enhance the Cemetery in a unique way that will allow Mount Auburn to prosper, thrive, and pass on this horticultural legacy and rich landscape to future generations. Plans for a major new complex of horticultural and cemetery services facilities – the first project of its kind since the 19th century – are well underway, and the Cemetery has laid the groundwork to launch its first-ever capital campaign. These state-of-the-art facilities will be the new “public face” of Mount Auburn and transform the westernmost corner of the Cemetery; they will provide space for local garden clubs, schools, and other community groups as well as indoor classes and workshops for the public; they will be the quintessence of energy efficiency and have the potential to achieve LEED Platinum status; and they Ann M. Roosevelt will enable our horticulture staff to increase their production of the diverse plants that make Mount Auburn such a significant horticultural collection. The fact that Mount Auburn has not only continued to operate with the same quality of excellence on a reduced budget, but that we are ready to surge ahead with these innovative plans, really speaks volumes about the commitment of the staff and Trustees to the future of this magnificent landscape. This level of dedication from staff, Trustees, and our donors, who continue their remarkable generosity, assures us that our Preservation staff will still have the means to care for monuments and structures, and the Friends will still continue to educate and enrich the community through a variety of public programs. We remain confident that Mount Auburn’s historic and horticultural legacies will live on and flourish. The excitement surrounding the capital campaign is also tinged with a bittersweet quality typical of many new beginnings. We say good-bye to Piper Morris, Senior Vice President of Development, who retired at the end of June 2010. Piper came to Mount Auburn six years ago and has been invaluable during her time here. She is leaving at the height of her achievements, having raised more money (nearly $1.4 million) in her last year than has ever been raised in one year before. We are truly grateful for all of her accomplishments and dedication, and we hope she comes back to see us often. Thanks to the combined creative efforts of all those involved with the Cemetery, the long-term vision for Mount Auburn is more promising than ever. We are sincerely grateful for the continued and vital support of our donors. Our ambitious plans for the future will require even greater support and in- volvement from the community, and we look forward to sharing the details of our aspirations in the months to come. If you are in the vicinity, please stop by the Visitor Center to see the architectural model of the proposed greenhouses and Horticultural Center. Ann Roosevelt, Chair Mount Auburn Cemetery Board of Trustees 1 Mount Auburn Cemetery 178th Annual Report Fiscal Year 2010 was a challenging but still productive and successful of the President year at Mount Auburn. On April 1, 2009, we began the year with to the Trustees for the a budget including appropriated spending from the endowment Proprietors of the reduced by $1.1 million (16.8%) from that of the previous year. We Cemetery of Mount thus began the year with some uncertainty as to whether we could maintain the high standards of service and maintenance for which Auburn Mount Auburn Cemetery is known. April 1, 2009 – While the budget cuts and reduced staff did, indeed, provide challenges March 31, 2010 and necessitate the postponement and re-prioritization of some projects and tasks, I am pleased to report that we completed the year under budget in total expenses, came very close to achieving our sales and revenue projections, and significantly exceeded our overall fundraising goal. Further details of our financial results are included in the Treasurer’s Report (page 12). These positive results are due to the creativity and dedication of the staff, who worked tirelessly together as a superb team, helping each other across all departments to achieve our goals and to maintain the high standards that Mount Auburn’s clients and visitors have come to expect. Our dedicated Board of Trustees also provided invaluable guidance and support throughout the year. Together, the Trustees and staff continued to carry out our mission of: • commemorating the dead in a landscape of exceptional beauty and tranquility, providing comfort and inspiration to the bereaved and the public as a whole; • protecting and improving our historic landscape, monuments, architecture, and horticultural and natural resources; and • providing comprehensive cemetery services of the highest standard to persons of all faiths in so far as such services are consistent with the protection and preservation of Mount Auburn. Mount Auburn is truly a unique place that constantly energizes all of us. As a National Historic Landmark, it is a cultural institution of great historic significance. At the same time, it is still very much an active cemetery, offering new interment space and providing end- of-life services to families during their time of need. With limited resources and yet ever-increasing demands on those resources, we remain fully aware of our responsibility to plan for the long-term preservation of Mount Auburn for future generations while we make short-term decisions to balance the fiscal year budget. During FY2010 we continued to prioritize our activities under the frame- work of the following five initiatives of our recently completed Strategic Plan (2007): • Enhance the visitor experience • Ensure the preservation of buildings and structures • Enhance the natural and ornamental landscape • Increase net revenue from new and expanded cemetery services • Increase net contributed support. 2 Long-Range The major accomplishments under each of these initiatives are reported below. First I want to summarize our progress with the Planning planning for a multi-dimensional complex of new horticultural and cemetery services facilities in the westernmost area of the Cemetery off Grove Street in Watertown, since this project will ultimately impact all five strategic initiatives. Horticulture Center: Working with the Boston architectural firm of William Rawn Associates and the landscape architectural firm of Reed|Hilderbrand of Watertown, Mass., we completed the Schematic Design–including cost estimates–for the entire four-acre project in late October. The Trustees approved the overall Schematic Design in November and voted to proceed through Design Development and Construction Documents for the first phase of the project, a new Horticulture Center. The Construction Documents were completed in April and include plans for new production greenhouses to replace the existing greenhouses that were built in 1971. The new facility will include state-of-the-art technology and will reduce heating costs by 50% compared to our existing greenhouses; it will provide improved propagation facilities to enable us to grow a diverse selection of unusual or hard-to-find trees, shrubs, and groundcovers to add to our already significant horticultural collections; and it will also provide a much-improved environment for our clients purchasing floral tributes for their loved ones. In addition, the Horticulture Center will include a two-story building housing the potting bench, equipment storage, and other support facilities for the greenhouses on the first floor, along with staff offices, volunteer headquarters, and public classroom and meeting space on the second floor. The Horticulture Center has been designed to achieve Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) cer- tification, the highest level offered by the U.S. Green Building Council. We continue to make sustainability an organizational priority by always striving to develop more environmentally sensitive and sustainable procedures in all of our operations. It is exciting to have the opportunity to add this kind of innovative thinking to the design of our first significant expansion of facilities at Mount Auburn in several decades.