Message from the President & CEO and
Chair of the Board of Trustees
We are pleased to pre se nt Mount Auburn
Cemetery’s 182nd Annual Report, with highlights of an
exciting and productive year. The Cemetery continues
to embrace its founders’ bold and innovative vision of a
beautiful and tranquil setting that inspires all who visit
while also providing the important functions of burial and
commemoration.
We often sum up Mount Auburn’s mission as “preservation
and service with excellence and innovation,” and these aims
are reflected in all our activities. As a National Historic
Landmark, we strive to preserve and enhance the historic
character of the 175-acre landscape, including the 5,000 trees
and the buildings, monuments, and other structures that are
such an important part of this unique landscape. As a cultural
institution, we seek to inform visitors–numbering approximately 250,000 per year–about history, art, horticulture,
wildlife, and the lives of those buried here.
We are equally proud that Mount Auburn remains an
active cemetery, offering interment space and end-of-life
services to families at a time of need, and we are committed
to providing these services with professionalism and compassion at the highest of standards.
In all that we do, we strive to be an efficient and sustainable
organization, utilizing best practices in business, service, and
operations, including the use of environmentally sensitive
maintenance procedures. Despite the continued challenging
economic climate, we continue to thrive thanks to the
creativity and passion of Mount Auburn’s dedicated staff,
volunteers, and Board of Trustees.
Mount Auburn’s financial model continues to depend
largely on our endowment, with $5.4 million coming from
appropriated endowment spending in FY2014. Earned
revenue from cemetery fees and services remained strong
at $2.8 million for the fiscal year. The Treasurer’s Report on
page 10 contains additional details.
Contributed support from foundations, agencies, and
individuals has become increasingly important to Mount
Auburn, enabling us to pursue preservation and landscape
enhancement projects over and above the perpetual care
and annual care obligations to lot owners that 78% of our
endowment is restricted to. In FY2014 the Friends of Mount
Auburn raised $673,236 (see page 12). Two important projects
that were funded during the year reflect the diversity of the
Cemetery’s activities: the assessment, documentation, and
cataloging of the Cemetery’s 30 most significant monuments
was funded by a grant of $92,000 from the Institute of
Museum and Library Services; and the development of a
comprehensiv