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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 … -
The Future of Development: Crowdsourced Funding
When AAM conducted its 2009 Museum Financial Information survey, a quarter of respondents had a capital campaign in progress. We don’t even have stats on how many museums regularly run annual giving campaigns, but it sometimes it … -
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 … -
Flex your Twitter Muscles and Prep to Tackle the Diversity Challenge!
Are you psyched about this Thursday’s Diversity Twebevent? Betty Farrell, Cecilia Garibay and Lisa Sasaki, are primed and ready to tweet with you on Feb. 24, from 2–3 p.m. (ET), exploring how museums are tackling demographic change. Full … -
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
Upcoming Events
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Landing a Board Seat: What It Really Means to Serve
Event Date:Presented by: Southeastern Museums Conference in partnership with the Association of Academic Museums & Galleries -
Museums & Schools Summit
Event Date:Presented by: MuseumNext -
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Leadership Succession Plans and Planning
Event Date:Presented by: American Alliance of Museums
Latest Stories from AAM
When Business Partners Become Advocates: Event Network at Museum Advocacy Day 2026
Category:
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Digital Innovations in Collections Stewardship and Access at Jewish Museums
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