By Lauren Stein
On August 26, 2025, the Woodmere Art Museum (Woodmere), a Pennsylvania nonprofit museum, filed a complaint alleging the federal government improperly terminated Woodmere’s Save America’s Treasures grant of $750,000. Woodmere named Donald J. Trump, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Keith Sonderling, the Acting Director of the IMLS, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and Russell T. Vought, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, collectively Defendants.
Woodmere Art Museum first opened to the public in 1910, with a mission dedicated to celebrating the art and artists of Philadelphia.[1] The building, grounds, and the majority of the collection were gifts of Charles Knox Smith (1845-1916), a nineteenth and twentieth-century Philadelphian art collector. [2] The collection owned by Woodmere currently boasts more than 8,000 pieces.[3] Per Woodmere’s Form 990, in 2023, Woodmere expended a total of $3,769,533 in functional expenses for all its operations.[4] From 2022 to 2023, Woodmere’s net assets grew $2,174,523, from $34,569,474 to $36,743,997.
Like many museums, Woodmere relies on grants from the federal government to sustain their operations. The Institute of Museum and Library Services was initially created and funded by Congress in 1996 with a mission to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development."[5] In 2024, the IMLS awarded $266.7 million through grantmaking, research, and policy development, distributed to museums, libraries, and related organizations.[6]
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