Advice, assistance and consultation on management and organizational needs.

   IMLS recently announced that Museums for America grant applications are available for fiscal 2011, and are due on November 1, 2010. Collections Stewardship (management of collections) is one of several categories of awards granted through the Museums for America program and is available to museums small or large. According to Marsha L. Semmel, Acting Director of the IMLS, “this is a cornerstone program for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, providing support for basic and worthy projects that further a museum’s mission, achieve goals, and provide value to communities.”

    This is a good opportunity for small museums to pursue projects that will help them better manage their collections. Grant funds may be used to fund staff time for project execution, consultation, collections planning, security, digitization, purchase of equipment and supplies, and/or researching, inventorying, cataloging or registration of collections. Grant applications must be made through Grants.gov which requires registration, to get started go to www.grants.gov/GetStarted , the IMLS application is located at www.imls.gov

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  From long experience in visitor service I have found that people are affected by the facial expressions of staff. Visitors who are greeted with a friendly hello and a smile feel that they are appreciated and will want to spend more time in your museum, and may spend more in your museum shop too. These benefits of a good attitude and a cheerful smile represent an approach that has a good return on investment.

   Offering a smile indicates that you are approachable. We all want our visitors to have a satisfying visit and we also want them to tell others about the great experiences they had at our museum. Smiling loosens up the muscles in our jaws- we have all heard that fewer muscles are used to smile than to frown- and smiling makes us feel relaxed. The act of smiling activates muscles in our face and neck that alter our disposition for the better. This relationship is conveyed through our voice, as a result, we sound more relaxed, friendly and open-because we are.

    Developing a culture of exceptional customer service means we have to have a commitment to friendliness and that starts with a smile from the visitor services representative, but the commitment to friendly customer service must be made from the top down; the front desk representative must know that he/she is supported and encouraged to provide the best visitor experience by the actions of the entire management team. All staff members who interact with the public must exhibit the same enthusiasm and friendly, open attitude in order to show the visitor that a culture of exceptional customer service permeates the entire organization. Training all staff is a prerequisite to success; it should be an ongoing task so that service with a smile becomes ingrained in all of  the museum’s culture and programming.

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In these times of institutional challenges it is good to know that there are viable programs that can help museums prioritize goals, plan for the future and recommend strategies for creating a strong institution that uses the best practices and standards of the museum field. The American Association of Museums (AAM), Museum Assessment Program (MAP) does just that and is available to all nonprofit museums that own and exhibit collections, are open on a regular basis and have at least one full time paid or volunteer staff member.

The MAP program combines self-study with the recommendations of an on-site surveyor who meets with and assists the staff, volunteers and board to create a report that evaluates the operations of the museum, documents institutional needs, and prioritizes goals. MAP staff and surveyors make recommendations and suggest resources that will aid in the implementation of standards and best practices identified in the report that will strengthen the institution.

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The Harwich Historical Society in the historic community of Harwich, Massachusetts was founded in 1953 to “preserve, collect and interpret Harwich history.” Not untypical of many small town historical societies, but this small museum has done a superb job of following its mission. Housed in a Greek Revival style school building constructed in 1844 by Sydney Brooks, first known as Pine Grove Seminary, it later became a public school run by the town. In 1988, the building was acquired by the Harwich Historical Society and it became the Brooks Academy Museum.

Brooks Academy Museum

Visiting the museum was a treat as they have packed an enormous amount of history into a rather compact set of spaces. The “main” exhibit is all about Cranberry culture as Harwich claims credit as the home of the commercial cranberry growing industry.  A diorama, and a collection of tools used in the growing and shipping of cranberries as well as photographs and documents tell this fascinating story of the little red bitter fruit that is a plant native to America grown in nearby “bogs.” The story of the people who came to harvest, or glean, the berries is told as well, these were local people as well as imported labor from the Cape Verdean Islands who became respected members of the community.

A separate exhibit tells the story of the Railroad which first came to this area of Massachusetts known as Cape Cod in the 1840’s. The railroad carried fish, agricultural goods, cranberries and people to Boston. The exhibit and large model railroad layout detail this history and follow the line from Orleans to Hyannis where the line then connected to Boston. The railroad was intimately intertwined with the cranberry industry which shipped tens of thousands of 100 pound “cranberry barrels” each year.  The exhibit connects the railroad with other industries that were spurned by the growth of cranberry cultivation. Read more…

One of the most important aspects of creating a new museum is that there must be an understanding that the objects in the collection have to be protected and conserved indefinitely. A plan to provide the fiscal and physical needs of this permanent responsibility is one of the questions central to the creation of a new museum. A needs assessment should be completed prior to making any lasting decisions about the creation of a new museum, does it compete with another museum nearby, is there money to operate, does the community support the museum? Once a decision has been made to start a new museum the practical matters of making it happen must be addressed.

Nonprofit museums must follow the laws of the state in which they are located. The Secretary of State or State Corporation Commission requires registration as a corporation in order to do business. The incorporation process varies from state to state but generally a charter, by-laws, and a list of board members and officers is required.

The Internal Revenue Code, section 501 (c) 3, allows museums to operate as nonprofit corporations. This designation as a 501 (c) 3 allows donations to the organization to be tax deductible. Once this designation is approved for an organization, it must submit an annual tax return on IRS Form 990. Read more…

Museums have suffered funding crises over the past decade that has resulted in budget modifications to all aspects of their operations. Past economic slowdowns caused museums to make temporary modifications to budgets while the institutions waited out the slowdown. The current economic situation seems to be more long lasting and broader in scope as it relates to museums. Institutions that have cultivated multiple funding sources are the most able to cope with the current situation, but they too must cope with the reality of reduced revenue. Museums with single funding sources suffer the most if they are publicly funded or are dependent on the growth and interest from endowments which have shrunk significantly-the American Association of Museums reports that 63% of museums saw a decline in investment income in 2009 according to a survey of 481 AAM institutional members in January of 2010.  The AAM survey stated that there are indications that individual donations were less likely to be reduced as opposed to government and corporate support. Although this would seem to be a difficult time to find new sources of income, adversity can and should inspire museum leaders to become creative in their thinking, in their strategic planning, fund development cultivation, program evaluation and staffing. Read more…

Museums and cultural institutions in Tennessee and Kentucky and other Southern states have been impacted by recent storms that brought flood waters through their doors. The effort to clean up the mud and other debris that has damaged these institutions will stress already strained budgets and may result in the loss of archival and other sensitive collections. That view however does not reflect the spirit of museums staffs and volunteers who are responding to the disaster. There are many resources for these responders to turn to for help, information and assistance.

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Save America’s Treasures grant applications are now available and the deadline nears for this program which will award $14 million dollars to preservation projects in late 2010. This important grant program is overseen by the National Park Service in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. This may be the last opportunity for applying for these grants as President Obama eliminates the Save America’s Treasures program in his budget requests for the next fiscal year. The due date for applications is May 21, 2010 and applicants must be registered with Grants.Gov in order to apply – applicants who have not registered with Grants.Gov be advised that there may not be enough time left as the registration process may take up to 4 weeks.

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The American Association of Museums estimates that there are more than 17,500 museums in the U.S. and the number is growing. Small communities throughout the nation are opening or thinking about opening museums to preserve what the community deems an important story to tell, a way of life to be preserved, a building or structure to be saved, or a way to display the things that may have once defined the identity of the community.

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The National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance grants program assists libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, and cultural institutions with non-matching outright grants of $6,000. These grants allow small institutions to engage a conservator, preservation librarian, archivist, or other appropriate consultant to help to improve the care and custody of their humanities collections. Some examples of eligible projects include: general preservation assessments to help draft a long-range plan for the care of collections;  establishing environmental monitoring programs; planning for instituting integrated pest management programs; studying light levels in exhibition and storage spaces and recommending appropriate methods for light control to reduce damage to collections; developing detailed plans for improving and rehousing collections  storage; developing disaster and emergency response plans; and assessing the conservation treatment needs of selected items in a collection.

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