Over the Edge Fundraising

MPMAFargo, ND 2007

Allyson Lazar, Orinda Group, LLC

Sources of Revenue Covered in the Survey

• Programs• Partnering• Use of Collections• Fundraising Activities• Organizational Structure• Museum Businesses• Museum Website Services• Internet Resources

Survey Statistics

143 Respondents

57% 1-10 Employees

51% Mountain-Plains or Midwest

Top Three Sources of Income:• Federal/State/County/City Funds• Grants• Membership

Success Rates of Programs and Activities

79% Event Rental

77% Auctions

70% Sleep-Overs

61% Holiday Shopping Events

41% Travel Programs

40% Specialty License Plate Programs

33% Open House/Behind-the-Scenes Events

25% Car Donations

Partnering with Other Organizations

Most Common Reasons for Partnering:

• Increase Visibility• Collaborative

Programming• Cross-marketing

Purposes• Cooperative

Grants/Funding

Most Common Partnering Projects:

• Exhibitions• Digitization• Advertising/Marketing• Programming (such as

lectures)

Corporate Partnering

• Exhibits • TV/DVD/Documentaries • Museum Books • Public Debate

• Cooperative Programming

Use of Collections

• Merchandise Licensing• Interactive DVDs • Downloadables (computer "wallpaper" or

screensavers) • Rights and Reproduction/Photo Use • Research Requests • Loans

• Traveling Exhibition Fees

Fundraising Events

Large Annual Fundraising Events:

67% Consider these events cost-effective

93% Resulted in 0-20% of annual revenue

Most Common Non-Annual Fundraisers:

• Buy-a-(brick, tile, star, etc.)

• Adopt-a-(shelf, artifact, animal, exhibit)

• Cookbooks• Calendars

Organizational Structure

41% Have a friends group or foundation

66% Reported the friends group brought in 0-10% of annual revenue

Museum-Owned Businesses

• Retail• Café• Farming• Property Rental

Museum Website Services

44% Online Membership Enrollment

36% Online Donations/Giving

29% Online Gift Shop Retail

9% Online Admissions/special exhibition tickets

40% None of these

Museum Web 2.0 StrategiesWhy offer online services?

• Provide more resources• Build awareness• Keep up with the Joneses• Reach a broader audience• Provide more content• Provide a flexible means for audience interaction• Attract new demographics• Low cost, low risk• Get funds

30% Plan on using one or more in the next six months

Social Networking Websites

• 180 museum profiles on Flickr• Almost 5000 museum-related groups on Flickr• 100s of museums on MySpace• 1000s of videos tagged “museum” on YouTube• Almost 4000 museum-related groups on Yahoo!

Groups

Third-Party E-Philanthropy Websites

Most Commonly Reported Sites:

• Shopformuseums.com• Goodsearch.com• iGive.com

• Missionfish.com

Strategies to Try• Event Rental• Auctions• Sleep-overs• Holiday Shopping Events• Partnering/Corporate Partnering• Use of Collections• Specific, Targeted “Creative” Fundraisers • Friends Groups/Foundations• Owning/Leasing Space to Separate Business• eCommerce- and ePhilanthropy-Enabled Website• Social Media on the Museum Website• Social Networking Sites• Third-party ePhilanthropy Sites

To view the complete survey results or to view this presentation, please visit:

orindagroup.com/OGBlog/articles06/02_07_MPMA.html

Zoo Matchmaker from the Minnesota Zoo

Museumonthego.com

The Exploratorium’s Center for Museum Partnerships

MPMA MySpace Page myspace.com/mountainplains

Shopformuseums.com

Goodsearch.com