Open Forum

Original Message:
Sent: 3/9/2021 8:40:00 AM
From: Martin Fisher
Subject: Education Dept Finances

I am curious if any museums/centers operate the education department, so that it fully funds itself from programs/events revenue.?. 

Thanks,

Martin

--

Martin S. Fisher
Executive Director
Science Central
1950 North Clinton Street
Fort Wayne, IN  46805
Phone: 260-424-2400 ext. 441
Fax: 260-422-2899
Cellular: 260-452-4047
Email: mfisher@sciencecentral.org
www.sciencecentral.org
41°5'52" N  85°7'8" W  756 ft.

Spark Your Imagination!

Original Message:
Sent: 3/10/2021 7:05:00 AM
From: Vivian Zoë
Subject: RE: Education Dept Finances

I've been in this industry for decades and have never experienced 100% self-funding from program fees.  The closest thing, in my experience, is summer camps, partly because parents can deduct the fees as child care costs from their taxes.

Vivian F. Zoë, Director
Slater Memorial Museum
108 Crescent Street, Norwich CT 06360
860-425-5560 vox
860-885-0379 fax

"Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work," Chuck Close, 2003

Please note:  The information contained in this email and any attachments hereto is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipients.  If the reader/recipient of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this email and all attachments hereto in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or any of its attachments is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by email and destroy the original message received.  Thank You.

Original Message:
Sent: 3/9/2021 8:40:00 AM
From: Martin Fisher
Subject: Education Dept Finances

I am curious if any museums/centers operate the education department, so that it fully funds itself from programs/events revenue.?. 

Thanks,

Martin

--

Martin S. Fisher
Executive Director
Science Central
1950 North Clinton Street
Fort Wayne, IN  46805
Phone: 260-424-2400 ext. 441
Fax: 260-422-2899
Cellular: 260-452-4047
Email: mfisher@sciencecentral.org
www.sciencecentral.org
41°5'52" N  85°7'8" W  756 ft.

Spark Your Imagination!

Original Message:
Sent: 3/15/2021 2:03:00 PM
From: Sean Mobley
Subject: RE: Education Dept Finances

This is just my personal, naïvely philosophical opinion, but I feel that an education department that is fully funded by its own fees is likely not living up to the goal of presenting program that is accessible to every member of the community. It means that they're charging enough for their programs to actually cover the costs, which translates to only people who can afford to participate getting to participate. If the department is also doing its own fundraising/grant-writing, that's another question. But then I would ask that department why they are spreading themselves out and doing work that the Fundraising/Finance/Development Department could be doing rather than focusing on what they do best: developing and delivering amazing programs that inspire learners of all ages. I'm sure there are situations where reality meets idealism and this scenario plays out and is perfectly workable, so I don't mean this as a blanket statement, but as I said the idea of a fully self-funded Education department raises a lot of red flags. I would have a lot of questions for that department to understand their goals and methods.

Sean Mobley, (He/Him/His) | Volunteer Coordinator The Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way S Seattle, WA 98108 Work: +1 (206) 768-7151 www.museumofflight.org

 

Original Message:
Sent: 3/10/2021 7:05:00 AM
From: Vivian Zoë
Subject: RE: Education Dept Finances

I've been in this industry for decades and have never experienced 100% self-funding from program fees.  The closest thing, in my experience, is summer camps, partly because parents can deduct the fees as child care costs from their taxes.

Vivian F. Zoë, Director
Slater Memorial Museum
108 Crescent Street, Norwich CT 06360
860-425-5560 vox
860-885-0379 fax

"Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work," Chuck Close, 2003

Please note:  The information contained in this email and any attachments hereto is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipients.  If the reader/recipient of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this email and all attachments hereto in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or any of its attachments is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by email and destroy the original message received.  Thank You.

Original Message:
Sent: 3/9/2021 8:40:00 AM
From: Martin Fisher
Subject: Education Dept Finances

I am curious if any museums/centers operate the education department, so that it fully funds itself from programs/events revenue.?. 

Thanks,

Martin

--

Martin S. Fisher
Executive Director
Science Central
1950 North Clinton Street
Fort Wayne, IN  46805
Phone: 260-424-2400 ext. 441
Fax: 260-422-2899
Cellular: 260-452-4047
Email: mfisher@sciencecentral.org
www.sciencecentral.org
41°5'52" N  85°7'8" W  756 ft.

Spark Your Imagination!

Red flags, indeed. My questions would be to the senior leadership and Board of Directors about why they favor a market approach that poses a high risk of forcing each department within the museum to compete against each other for funding and donors? Yes, nonprofits can sometimes benefit from adopting for-profit business models, but if the leaders choose to do that, in my view it demands a long, hard look at the history of this long debate and its potential consequences. The reason museums have nonprofit status is first and foremost because of their charitable purpose of education.

------------------------------
Deborah Smith
Consultant Belfast Maine
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-15-2021 02:02 PM
From: Sean Mobley
Subject: Education Dept Finances

This is just my personal, naïvely philosophical opinion, but I feel that an education department that is fully funded by its own fees is likely not living up to the goal of presenting program that is accessible to every member of the community. It means that they're charging enough for their programs to actually cover the costs, which translates to only people who can afford to participate getting to participate. If the department is also doing its own fundraising/grant-writing, that's another question. But then I would ask that department why they are spreading themselves out and doing work that the Fundraising/Finance/Development Department could be doing rather than focusing on what they do best: developing and delivering amazing programs that inspire learners of all ages. I'm sure there are situations where reality meets idealism and this scenario plays out and is perfectly workable, so I don't mean this as a blanket statement, but as I said the idea of a fully self-funded Education department raises a lot of red flags. I would have a lot of questions for that department to understand their goals and methods.

Sean Mobley, (He/Him/His) | Volunteer Coordinator The Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way S Seattle, WA 98108 Work: +1 (206) 768-7151 www.museumofflight.org

 

Original Message:
Sent: 3/10/2021 7:05:00 AM
From: Vivian Zoë
Subject: RE: Education Dept Finances

I've been in this industry for decades and have never experienced 100% self-funding from program fees.  The closest thing, in my experience, is summer camps, partly because parents can deduct the fees as child care costs from their taxes.

Vivian F. Zoë, Director
Slater Memorial Museum
108 Crescent Street, Norwich CT 06360
860-425-5560 vox
860-885-0379 fax

"Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work," Chuck Close, 2003

Please note:  The information contained in this email and any attachments hereto is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipients.  If the reader/recipient of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this email and all attachments hereto in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or any of its attachments is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by email and destroy the original message received.  Thank You.

Original Message:
Sent: 3/9/2021 8:40:00 AM
From: Martin Fisher
Subject: Education Dept Finances

I am curious if any museums/centers operate the education department, so that it fully funds itself from programs/events revenue.?. 

Thanks,

Martin

--

Martin S. Fisher
Executive Director
Science Central
1950 North Clinton Street
Fort Wayne, IN  46805
Phone: 260-424-2400 ext. 441
Fax: 260-422-2899
Cellular: 260-452-4047
Email: mfisher@sciencecentral.org
www.sciencecentral.org
41°5'52" N  85°7'8" W  756 ft.

Spark Your Imagination!

At our museum, our classes and workshops are structured so that it funds itself. For example, if our Japanese language class costs $100, the instructor gets a share of 70% and we get 30%. In the contract we note what is the minimum and maximum capacity for the class/workshop. Often times we need 5 paid enrollments to have the class. If we have less than that we cancel the class without any financial penalty to the museum or instructor. ​

The percentage for the instructor and museum is negotiable and will depend on your institution and each instructor (50/50 or 60/40). Our other programs such as Speaker Series, films, and special programs are funded through grants or sponsored so if we don't break even with ticket sales it is okay. Any sales will consider to be profit. So grants and fund raising is very important for us to offer quality programs.

However, the daily operations of the Education department (staff salaries+ benefits, supplies, etc.) can not be 100% self-funded by all the program revenues above. The expenses outweigh the revenue these programs bring in.  

From what I learned in the museum industry, some departments are categorized as mission, revenue generating, or operations based.
Education, Exhibitions, and Curatorial are considered mission-based departments and are not expected to generate large amounts of revenue or any at all for the institution. However, they are the ones that makes the institution a museum and allows us to meet our mission. So they are essential and important to the museum.

The revenue generating departments include Membership, Development, Admissions, Museum Store, Facility Rentals, and café/restaurant (if you have one). They help bring in the large money to fund the institutions mission and operations.

Other departments like Finance, Admin, maintenance, and such are operations based and also does not generate revenue, but is an important component of the museum's daily operations.

Best,

Wendy Lo | Curator of Education

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens

4000 Morikami Park Road | Delray Beach, FL 33446

(P) 561.233.1328 | (F) 561.499.2557

www.morikami.org

 

------------------------------
Wendy Lo
Curator of Education
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
Delray Beach FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2021 08:39 AM
From: Martin Fisher
Subject: Education Dept Finances

I am curious if any museums/centers operate the education department, so that it fully funds itself from programs/events revenue.?. 

Thanks,

Martin

--

Martin S. Fisher
Executive Director
Science Central
1950 North Clinton Street
Fort Wayne, IN  46805
Phone: 260-424-2400 ext. 441
Fax: 260-422-2899
Cellular: 260-452-4047
Email: mfisher@sciencecentral.org
www.sciencecentral.org
41°5'52" N  85°7'8" W  756 ft.

Spark Your Imagination!

I'm a historian of educational programming in American science museums, and while my research is far from comprehensive, I haven't come across any examples of fully self-funded educational departments. My research goes back 1880 when Albert Bickmore of the American Museum of Natural History started delivering teacher education lectures and continues through today. 

Before I transitioned to historical research, I worked in the education departments of several museums and none of those were self-funded from program revenue either. Some individual programs were fully self-funded, but even that was rare. 

Hope this helps!
Dave


------------------------------
David McCullough
Historian
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2021 08:39 AM
From: Martin Fisher
Subject: Education Dept Finances

I am curious if any museums/centers operate the education department, so that it fully funds itself from programs/events revenue.?. 

Thanks,

Martin

--

Martin S. Fisher
Executive Director
Science Central
1950 North Clinton Street
Fort Wayne, IN  46805
Phone: 260-424-2400 ext. 441
Fax: 260-422-2899
Cellular: 260-452-4047
Email: mfisher@sciencecentral.org
www.sciencecentral.org
41°5'52" N  85°7'8" W  756 ft.

Spark Your Imagination!