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Washington • The Smithsonian Institution has embarked on a major campaign to raise $1.5 billion and increase private support for the world's largest museum and research complex to support programs in history, science, art and culture.

The Smithsonian's Board of Regents announced the goal Monday and revealed more than $1 billion already has been raised in the campaign's quiet phase since October 2011. This is the first institution-wide fundraising effort and the largest such campaign in history for a cultural institution, officials said. The campaign will continue through 2017.

Several large gifts were previously announced for large projects. David H. Koch donated $35 million for a major renovation of the Smithsonian's dinosaur hall. Boeing is giving $30 million, the Smithsonian's largest corporate donation, to overhaul the central exhibition showing the milestones of flight at the National Air and Space Museum. And Oprah Winfrey has donated $13 million to build a new National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Smithsonian has historically received federal taxpayer funding for about 70 percent of its annual budget for staff salaries and building maintenance. The complex will still need about $100 million a year for maintenance, officials said, though federal appropriations have fallen below that mark in recent years. Most exhibits and programs are privately funded.

The public-private funding model dates to the Smithsonian's founding in 1846, when a British scientist's bequest established the institution. Now the Smithsonian includes 19 museums in Washington and New York City, the National Zoo and nine research facilities around the world.

Washington philanthropist David Rubenstein is co-chairman of the fundraising effort. He serves on the Smithsonian board and has made major gifts to the Kennedy Center, numerous historic sites and to restore the Washington Monument.

"The level of excellence expressed in the Smithsonian's strategic plan can be achieved only with a significant infusion of philanthropic capital," Rubenstein said in a statement.

Of the approximately $1 billion already raised, $293 million has been devoted to endowments, and about $180 million has been raised privately for construction of the new African-American history museum, said Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas. Another $80 million is devoted to a major overhaul of exhibits at the National Museum of American History, and $20 million has been raised to improve the National Zoo.

The remaining projects are spread across the various museums and research sites.

Museum consultants Barry and Gail Lord, the co-presidents of Lord Cultural Resources, said the Smithsonian campaign is large and more comparable to those pursued by top universities.

The campaign aims to create new endowed museum positions and to bring new donors to the Smithsonian so that its donor base represents all 50 states, organizers said.

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