Tuesday, July 31, 2012

An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit: Book 2, Financial Resource Development and Management


Carol Bolton Betts, editor for the Illinois Heritage Association, wrote an overview of The Small Museum Toolkit as part of the IHA’s Technical Insert series.  The IHA has graciously allowed The Small Museum Toolkit to share this introduction in seven blog posts during July and August. The posts will help you to get to know about the content of the Toolkit from an outside perspective.

Money matters. This is especially true for the small museum, where financial responsibility is essential to survival. Yet the topic of money—how to raise it, how to spend it, and how to account for it—can strike fear in the hearts of any organization’s staff. This book will help to allay those fears.

In chapter 1, Brenda Granger draws from many acknowledged sources to assemble accepted practices, checklists, and informa­tion about sound fiscal management planning and implementa­tion. She emphasizes the need for transparency and presents the means to achieve it. Granger describes the tools that small museums will need, including a simple budget, a list of budgetary controls, a Form 990 checklist, and a checklist that will help the small organization assess its financial management practices. Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko is the author of chapter 2, in which she tackles “fearless fundraising.” Belief in an organization’s mission is just the start of a successful fundraising campaign. The author describes the segments of the population from which most sup­port comes and tells how to assess a community’s capacity for philanthropy. She offers guidance for approaching individuals and foundations and recommends methods that can be used by the successful fundraiser, such as annual giving, major gifts, sponsorships, earned income, and several other strategies.

Just how does a small museum approach a granting agency to secure funds? First, writes Benjamin Hruska in chapter 3, it must identify specific agencies and appropriate types of grants. He discusses the standard components of a grant; how the writing can best be managed; and how the document can be tailored to both an organization and the target foundation. Hruska includes examples of successful grant-seeking campaigns undertaken by three small museums.

In chapter 4, Allyn Lord surveys the important legal issues that a museum must face. These can pertain to the handling of funds, once they are raised, but also to organizational structure; tax-ex­empt status, where appropriate; and governance responsibilities. Lord is not dispensing legal advice, but she explains numerous areas where important legal considerations demand attention, including taxation, human resources, collections acquisition and ownership, copyright, audience and member activities, and risk management.

Adapted from Carol Bolton Betts, “An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit,” Illinois Heritage Association, Technical Insert 177 (May-June 2012). As a volunteer, Ms. Betts has done editorial work for the Illinois Heritage Association (illinoisheritage.org) since 1982. She was an editor at the University of Illinois Press for twenty years, working primarily on books about art and architecture, film, women’s history, and subjects related to the history of Illinois. Earlier she served on the staff of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and taught art history at Villanova University and at California State University–Los Angeles. 

Friday, July 27, 2012

Your Most Important Two Words: "Thank You"

Building an effective team is essential to any museum's success.  One of the most crucially important ways to help people feel that they are part of the team is to devise strategies to effectively thank and salute those who help your museum in any way. Saying thank you often and creatively in person, by a phone call, through an e-mail, or in your publications is one of the most important ways to insure your success. Little gestures of kindness can go a long ways toward motivating your team. Remember – it is not about you. Banish the word “I” from your vocabulary – give your team the credit they deserve for all that you achieve together!

Saying thank you can also be a group team-building activity. Have the staff spend 15 minutes at a staff meeting writing personal thank you notes to people who helped at a recent event. Or ask the Board to write personal thank yous on annual fund thank you letters to people they know at the end of the board meeting. Or, nominate a volunteer for a statewide award. Get others on your team to write letters of support. Pack up a car load of people to attend and applaud. Bring your cameras and make sure to send copies to all who participated as well as to the media. People who feel their efforts are genuinely appreciated are more apt to want to continue to help and to offer their financial support.

Showcase all that has been accomplished (or 10 great things that have been done this year) in an upbeat presentation at your annual membership meeting or holiday staff-volunteer gathering. This can help generate enthusiasm, encourage participation by new volunteers, and build team spirit for working together to accomplish your mission.

Patricia Murphy is the first executive director of the Oberlin Heritage Center which attained American Association of Museums accreditation in 2005 under her leadership.  She has a B.A. in history from Grinnell College and a Master of Architectural History degree from the University of Virginia.  She is a graduate of the Seminar for Historic Administration and the Getty Museum Leadership Institute.  She serves on the American Association of Museums Accreditation Commission and is the past President of the Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums.

Monday, July 23, 2012

An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit: Book 1, Leadership, Mission, and Governance


Carol Bolton Betts, editor for the Illinois Heritage Association, wrote an overview of The Small Museum Toolkit as part of the IHA’s Technical Insert series.  The IHA has graciously allowed The Small Museum Toolkit to share this introduction in seven blog posts during July and August. The posts will help you to get to know about the content of the Toolkit from an outside perspective.

The first volume of The Small Museum Toolkit addresses ways that small museums and other history organizations can take stock of their strengths and weak­nesses, with the goal of moving their operations forward while adhering to the highest standards. These groups must have effec­tive and ethical leaders, wise governance, responsible budgetary oversight, and expert management and conservation of collec­tions. Book 1 provides guidelines for attaining these qualities, and it tells why it is important to attain them.

Cherie Cook, Elizabeth Merritt, and Sara Gonzales lay the ground­work in chapter 1 by describing several important initiatives, many of which were developed with funding by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The authors describe, respectively, the Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations (StEPs), a relatively new project of AASLH; the American Association of Museums’ (AAM) Museum Assessment Program (MAP) and the Accreditation Program, the latter funded by AAM; and the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), which is offered by Heritage Preservation. These involve self-study and peer review, methods that can provide pathways to identifying and solving immediate problems in an organization—and sometimes preventing problems—while ensuring the organization’s long-term good health. These programs are also referred to in the other books in the set.

In chapter 2, Steve Friesen tackles questions that are important for the entire Small Museum Toolkit: What makes a museum small? How can we make a case for the small museum? While some might view the small museum in terms of its supposed dis­advantages, Friesen points to the many advantages of the smaller institution. Small museums may have small staffs and budgets, but the best of them can match—even exceed—the accomplish­ments of larger, better-funded museums with large staffs. Imagination, dedication, and the ability to turn on a dime characterize the effective staff members of a small museum. Small institutions can take advantage of the latest in training and technology to turn out well-conceived, well-mounted exhibitions. Reading about these qualities will make people associated with a small museum feel encouraged and proud of their work.

The authors of chapter 3, Harold Skramstad and Susan Skram­stad, define mission and vision statements and say that without well-reasoned, well-prepared statements—and without adhering to them—a museum cannot have adequate governance, plan strategically, mount meaningful programs, or attain best prac­tices. The Skramstads lay out principles that should inform the mission and vision statements, and they give sample documents that will aid staff in crafting their own. In chapter 4, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko discusses a low-cost approach to developing the all-important strategic plan. She presents a step-by-step outline for economical, do-it-yourself strategic planning, along with checklists, worksheets, and ground rules that will be particularly useful to those who guide the small museum.

Teresa Goforth, author of chapter 5, asserts that a museum of any size can create a successful governing structure and can draw from several models to do so. She describes the makeup of a desirable governing board and uses case studies to illustrate how such a board can be composed, developed, and maintained. Goforth details board responsibilities and structure, stressing the importance of following an ethics policy. In the final chapter of book 1, Katie Anderson compares the relationship between board and director to a marriage: it involves asking the right questions before embarking on the relationship and keeping the lines of communication open. Anderson lists the tasks of a board and its president, along with tips for the successful director. By working together and meeting the highest standards, she says, board and director can ensure that their partnership lasts.

Adapted from Carol Bolton Betts, “An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit,” Illinois Heritage Association, Technical Insert 177 (May-June 2012). As a volunteer, Ms. Betts has done editorial work for the Illinois Heritage Association (illinoisheritage.org) since 1982. She was an editor at the University of Illinois Press for twenty years, working primarily on books about art and architecture, film, women’s history, and subjects related to the history of Illinois. Earlier she served on the staff of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and taught art history at Villanova University and at California State University–Los Angeles. 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Train Everyone! Even the Janitor!?!


In many small institutions, the staff and volunteers who are installing exhibits, working with collections, etc. also function as the front-line staff. Individuals trained for specific jobs within an institution are catapulted into visitor service and should feel prepared to help visitors. Small museum staff and volunteers learn to multitask; their focus can rarely be on just one thing happening at their sites. Projects are in progress and a visitor needs help in the museum shop. The doorbell or the telephone rings in the middle of a tour and there is not always a second person on site to handle the interruption. The seemingly constant interruptions can lead to frustration and annoyance especially when the staff and volunteers already feel as if they are spread too thin.

In spite of any frustration at being interrupted, the staff and volunteers should make the visitor feel welcome and important. Staff and volunteer perceptions of visitors will shape the way visitors are treated. Encourage staff and volunteers to think of the visitors not as interruptions but as opportunities to share information with others. Also, encourage them to openly communicate with each other about their experiences with visitors and to talk about what is going well and what may need to be improved. Improving visitor service is an ongoing process and involves dialogue and discussion among staff and volunteers.

Visitor service training should take place with all museum staff and volunteers regardless of time in the institution, staff or volunteer tasks, or physical location within the museum. It is essential for even back-of-house personnel to be able to interact meaningfully with any visitor they might encounter, not just on site but via e-mail or telephone. Visitors want to be treated with respect and care; they want to feel acknowledged even if they are just asking for the location of the museum shop or directions to the next site they are visiting. Providing all staff and volunteers with good visitor service training will help to ensure a good experience for everyone including the staff and volunteers.

Tamara Hemmerlein was the director of the Montgomery County Cultural Foundation for thirteen years and the Montgomery County Historical Society for eight years. She is now the Hoosier Heritage Alliance coordinator at the Indiana Historical Society. She serves on the American Association of Muse- ums Small Museum Administrators Committee and the American Association for State and Local History Professional Development Committee. She is a Museum Assessment Program peer reviewer and a graduate of the Seminar for Historical Administration. 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit


Carol Bolton Betts, editor for the Illinois Heritage Association, wrote an overview of The Small Museum Toolkit as part of the IHA’s Technical Insert series.  The IHA has graciously allowed The Small Museum Toolkit to share this introduction in seven blog posts during July and August. The posts will help you to get to know about the content of the Toolkit from an outside perspective.

Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko and Stacy Klingler, editors of the six-volume Small Museum Toolkit, note that small museums have all the responsibilities of larger institutions but lack the resources those organizations enjoy. Small museums of all types must engage in strategic planning, fundraising, collections management, exhibit plan­ning, programming, and many other tasks, but they must do so with small staffs made up of few, if any, trained professionals. Catlin-Legutko and Klingler, along with the American Associa­tion for State and Local History (AASLH), recognized a great need for a way to help small museums to achieve and maintain high museum standards and best practices. They have produced a boxed set of books that admirably fills this need. The set is part of the American Association for State and Local History Book Series.

Although the word museum appears in the title of the set and shows up frequently in the texts, much of the information in the books will be useful to staff and volunteers in other types of non­profit organizations. The books in The Small Museum Toolkit are packed with helpful information. This series of blog posts offers just a sampling of what they contain.

Each 6" × 9" paperback has a cover of a different bright color, addresses a different topic, and contains chapters by authors from different museum backgrounds, but there are features shared by all six. All of the books, which average around 153 pages in length, are clearly written and accessible; when specific terms are used, they are explained. The chapters are augmented by tables and textboxes that present items such as forms, checklists, outlines, and tips for accomplishing recommended procedures. The books contain endnotes and resource lists, and all volumes are well illustrated and well indexed. Most important, the authors of the essays in all of the books are recognized authorities who have extensive experience with small museums, which is detailed in the notes on the contributors that conclude each book. These authors uniformly recognize many others who aided them in their work on The Small Museum Toolkit.

The books in The Small Museum Toolkit are more than how-to manuals. While they give invaluable advice for a hands-on ap­proach to museum issues, they also offer thoughtful discussion of the reasoning behind the advice.

Adapted from Carol Bolton Betts, “An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit,” Illinois Heritage Association, Technical Insert 177 (May-June 2012). As a volunteer, Ms. Betts has done editorial work for the Illinois Heritage Association (illinoisheritage.org) since 1982. She was an editor at the University of Illinois Press for twenty years, working primarily on books about art and architecture, film, women’s history, and subjects related to the history of Illinois. Earlier she served on the staff of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and taught art history at Villanova University and at California State University–Los Angeles. 

Monday, July 9, 2012

Committing to Good Interpretation


A major shift in accepted interpretive practice has taken place over the last decade or so.  Museums have increasingly moved from being collections-centered to audience-centered. Although museums have a great responsibility for buildings and collections, what we do with those objects matters a great deal. Or, to put it another way, we must provide a forum that allows people to experience and engage with museums in a way that is comfortable for them.

Nothing connects with people better than a story they can relate to.  Committing to offer good interpretation is the first major step in doing this effectively.  Interpretation thus needs to be the primary focus stated by the museum. This seems to be intuitive – of course we want to tell people about all the great stuff we have. But too often this focus has not been central for all museums.

The goal of good interpretation is to see that your interpretive focus is reflected in every aspect of your museum operations. The idea of reaching various audiences needs to underpin every facet of a museum’s operations. 

This can be done formally through a policy document or strategic plan that clearly states the importance of interpretation, a Board-approved Interpretive Plan that guides the staff in developing content, and in training staff and volunteers to understand the critical importance of this part of the museum’s work. It can be done informally by instituting and insisting upon an organizational culture that values high-quality interpretation and places extraordinary emphasis on accurate, open communication and interaction.

Each member of the board, staff and volunteer corps needs to be aware of and committed to the overall goal of interpreting your museum.  What is more, this approach can no longer only be restricted to tour guides. A highly-trained guide delivering extensive information in a structured, highly-controlled format the norm is only one way to interpret your museum. 

The commitment to interpretation and public education should be made clear in policy documents, training materials, and in daily operations. There should also be periodic reviews of interpretive goals; at least every five years but more frequently as needed.

A tour begins long before your visitors enter the first gallery or period room.  As fewer visitors experience museums and historic sites through the mechanism of the guided tour, the definition of interpretation has been stretched, as has the sense of who is responsible for it. Visitor experiences will be improved dramatically if commitment to interpretation runs through the entire organization.

Stephen G. Hague is currently the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Ernest Cook Trust Research Student at Linacre College, University of Oxford, England. His research interests center on architecture, material culture, and social history in the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world. Previously he worked as executive director of Stenton, a historic house museum in Phila- delphia administered by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He holds a master’s in history from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s from Binghamton University.


Laura C. Keim is curator of Stenton and Wyck, two house museums located in historic Germantown, as well as a lecturer in historic interiors at Philadelphia University. A graduate of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, she holds a preservation degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in art history from Smith College. She has published widely on early American material culture and coauthored Stenton’s interpretive plan. 

Monday, July 2, 2012

Why Are Strategic Plans Needed?

A strategic plan, simply put, is a map or chart that an organization agrees to follow for three or five years in order to reach their goals. Institutions need strategic plans to help direct efforts and resources in an efficient and strategic manner. Responding to community and audience needs requires a strategic plan.
The planning process is strategic because you are establishing the goals that make the organization dynamic in its community and allow it to keep in step with the community’s needs.  It is systematic because it is focused and evaluative in choosing priorities. Institutions make decisions about short- and long-term goals and secure consensus. And most importantly, strategic planning is about building commitment and engaging stakeholders. Once the plan is in place, and you have met with all the stakeholders you can, you now have the authority to complete the work and a course of direction to take.   
Strategic plans are different from long-range or operational plans. Plans are strategic when the goals are responding to the museum’s environment, seeking a competitive edge, and looking for the keys to long-term sustainability. Long range or operational plans do not redefine the organization and position it in the community. These plans are more concerned with laying out immediate and future goals and are less concerned with organizational change. At the end of a five-year strategic plan, you will want to take the time to evaluate the success of the plan and consider next steps. If it was a complete success, changing course may not be necessary and you simply need to plan the next five years along the same course. This would warrant a long-range or operational plan.
Through strategic planning, pen is put to paper and major goals are defined. These goals may spur a sea change or a small shift in operations. It is important to realize at the beginning of the process that the strategic plan is the means to an end. It is a living document and as such, opportunities that are good for the organization should be considered with the plan in mind, but not completely disregarded because “it’s not in the plan.”  The means are flexible, while the end is not. 

Working in museums for nearly 20 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has been a museum director since 2001. Cinnamon became CEO of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Before that, she was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service in 2008. She is co-editor of the recently released Small Museum Toolkit from AltaMira Press.