The Living Computer Museum was an absolute treasure, but it shows one of the major hazards in the non-profit world. I founded the MADE, a non-profit videogame museum in Oakland. Just about 100% of my time when I was the director was spent raising money and soliciting partnerships so we could keep the doors open and the lights on. I would have killed to have someone like Paul Allen as a sponsor or involved in any way: we're a very poor museum compared to most, and money heals all wounds.

However, our little museum run with volunteers and pocket change managed to be more stable long term than the well-healed and well-funded Living Computer Museum. Why? Because having a single benefactor for a non-profit is almost a death sentence. It's super risky, and as we've seen here, when that single donor goes away, it's all over.

It's super sad the LCM is in the state it is in, but for non-profits this is a cautionary tale: you cannot build a long term non-profit on the support of a single person. The world is too chaotic for that. Even a non-profit with a billionaire behind it isn't safe. It is incredibly poor planning on humanity's part to rely on the rich to preserve our shared heritage out of some obligation or moral or ethical duty. We need to preserve this stuff on the order of the Smithsonian.