The unrestricted grant will go toward the museum's $65 million capital campaign for construction of a new museum building on the waterfront at Penn's Landing.
Announcement of the McDonald's gift will be made at a news conference today at the Please Touch Museum's current home at 210 N. 21st St.
"It's a big, big deal," said Nancy D. Kolb, president and chief executive officer of Please Touch. She said that McDonald's will be a long-term museum partner, participating in future projects and programs.
The museum has now notched $44 million in its fund-raising drive, Kolb said, and will break ground on its new home within a few months.
McDonald's, by far the largest private donor to the building campaign, will be acknowledged with its name on the front of the building, which will be called the Please Touch Museum Presented by McDonald's, Kolb said.
In another agreement, McDonald's will be the sole provider of food services in the building. Kolb said the gift to the building fund and the award of the food contract were not related. "They're going to run our restaurant because that's what children eat," Kolb said. "But there's no quid pro quo. They are totally separate deals."
David Murphy, regional manager for McDonald's, characterized his company and the museum as sharing "many of the same goals of being a community partner committed to the improvement and enrichment of children's lives and education."
McDonald's moved its northeast headquarters to Philadelphia last year and donated about $300,000 to various regional projects through its Ronald McDonald House Charities; area restaurants separately donated about $80,000 in 1999, largely to educational programs, according to a McDonald's spokeswoman.
The new Please Touch Museum, which will be a key element in the transformation of the waterfront, has been designed by Santos-Levy & Associates and will feature two floors with 44,0000 square feet of exhibition space plus 28,000 square feet of outdoor space for programs and other activities.
The museum hopes to be up and running sometime in 2003, when other new businesses along the waterfront begin to open.
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