Open Forum

Hi All,

When I went to AAM last year and was a bit underwhelmed by the Membership and Development offerings. I work at a museum that is 100% free but still has a membership program; we have successful switched our model from transnational to philanthropic. I would love to create panel with museums that are free but still have a membership or a panel with vastly different models of membership to talk about the strengths/weakness in our different models and/or the commonalities and differences in our models. 

Thanks for your time,

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Nicole Smith
Membership & Data Coordinator
Missouri History Museum
Saint Louis, MO
nsmith@mohistory.org
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Hi!

I would be very interested in being a panel participant on this topic. We are also a free museum and have close to 4,000 members. What I believe make us unique is that near 60% of our membership dollars comes from 200 upper-level memberships. This of course comes with benefits and challenges. I'd also be interested to learn more about what other membership programs look like for free museums.


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Kerry O'Donnell
Donor Stewardship Manager
Chrysler Museum of Art
Norfolk VA
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Hi Nicole, 
  I am also very interested in this idea for a panel. In my previous position I managed a small membership program of about 250 donors and we were able to increase our membership size and reach through special programming and member events even though the museum was free of charge. I currently work on Board Administration at a much larger museum and would be excited to share what I have learned from moving from a smaller museum with free admission to a larger museum with free admission and how membership programs can capitalize on benefits other than free admission.

Best, 
Libby

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Libby O'Kane
Analyst, Special Projects, Contracts, and Risk Management
Hammer Museum
Los Angeles CA
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