The Smithsonian Institution gets a majority of its funding from the federal government, according to its website. The budget for last year included about $1 billion of federal funds, which is more than 60% of its overall budget, the website said. As a result, sometimes funding initiatives — and, by extension, free admissions — are subject to political bartering.
A proposal in 2010 found that if the Smithsonian started charging for admissions, it could afford to lose about $225 million of its federal funds, according to CBS News. But the Smithsonian Institution views free admission as an important part of its mission statement, according to CBS News, because it allows everyone to access its resources. A spokesperson for the Institution told CBS News that the properties are free so that they aren’t “cost-prohibitive” for anyone, especially those who might not have much money to spare.
