The museum belongs to the Chi Mei Culture Foundation, which was founded in 1977 by W.L. Shi, chairman of the Chi Mei Corporation, a petrochemicals outfit that is one of the biggest profit makers in Taiwan. A lover of art and music, each year he allocates ten percent of the corporation's pre-tax surplus--equivalent to NT $ 250 million--to the museum to purchase objets d'art.
博物館隸屬的「奇美文化基金會」，由國內最會賺錢的企業之一、以石化工業起家的奇美實業董事長許文龍於民國六十六年創辦，熱愛音樂和藝術的他，每年固定撥出企業的稅前盈餘十分之一，相當於二億五千萬元給基金會搜購藏品。