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Forecasting Giving to Museums in 2012 Through the Giving USA Data
Museums watch current economic trends with a combination of fear and fascination. Every major source of museum income has been undermined in recent years, including private philanthropy (which accounted for a median of 36 percent of museum … -
How Museums are Like Bellybuttons and What That Tells Us
I think it’s time to share my omphalic classification scheme for museums. I started using this metaphor while I was directing AAM’s excellence programs (MAP, Accreditation) to capture my observations about major differences about museums’ … -
The Backward ABC’s of Museum Data
This week’s blog post comes from Philip M. Katz, assistant director for research at AAM. This was going to be an essay about the power of museum financial and operating data—robust, reliable numbers that can help museums plan for the … -
Museum Ethics in a Gilded Age
This week’s guest post by Erik Ledbetter, principal of Heritage Management Solutions and special adviser to the Forecasting the Future of Museum Ethics project currently underway in partnership with Seton Hall University’s Institute of … -
Creating your own Arcadia: Where do you start?
I’m often asked, “What will be the financial model be for museums in the future?” That model may well combine the idealism and mission-driven focus of nonprofits with strategies adapted from the for-profit realm. This week’s guest post is … -
An Idea for New Income and New Engagement: give your collections to as many people as possible
Got your attention with that headline, didn’t I? Calm down, I’m not talking about deaccessioning. I’m talking replication and teleportation of collections objects. Everyone has their own fav future tech. Phil’s is jetpacks: Mine is … -
A Visit from the Loan Officer
For a decade or more I’ve had the privilege of co-authoring an annual Xmas poem with Sally Shelton, collections manager of the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and John Simmons, principal of …
Tag: Financial Trends
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Lessons in Leadership: Transition Planning for Executive Directors of Small Museums
Category:
Center for the Future of Museums Blog
As I researched the “looming leadership crisis” for this year’s …
Podcasting in 2026 Past, Present and Future
Category:
On-Demand Programs
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Support Museum Funding – Field Wide Sign On Letter
Category:
Advocacy Alert
Federal funding for museums and cultural institutions continues to be under threat, and …