Corporate sponsorship holds the key to completing community fundraising for the $40 million redevelopment of the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, museum organisers say.
About $9.83 million has already been raised towards an initial target of $10.8 million, but that figure had since been increased to $12.05 million, museum director Linda Wigley said.
The target had been increased to cover a loan of more than $1 million extended to the project by the city council from savings in the redevelopment's fourth stage.
In a report, tabled at this week's museum board meeting, Ms Wigley said the museum had put together a "sponsorship pack" providing information for potential sponsors about options, including "adopting a gallery".
"It's sponsorship we're looking at now, rather than donations," she said.
Earlier fundraising had gone "very well", with about $6 million provided by the Government, and about $1.3 million by the Otago Community Trust in two grants.
It was hoped that most of the remaining funds would be raised before the museum opened to the public on December 8, Ms Wigley said.
The museum will have a cafe for the first time when it reopens.
It would be supported by a small kitchen, but most of the food would be prepared off-site, museum director Linda Wigley said.
Museum organisers had earlier considered establishing another cafe, backed by a larger kitchen, inside the museum's southern entry, and close to the Dunedin Chinese Garden, but there had been little immediate interest in that site.
