What this is about...

I started this blog because I have a strong interest in strategic planning, increasing revenue while maintaining organisational integrity, and making museums engaging places that are accessible to the widest audience possible. It is my goal to start conversations or trains of thought that can help museum stakeholders improve their organisation.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

grant deadlines

In about 30 minutes, I am teleconferencing with an agency that wants me to write a grant for them. I am about to tell them no.

I have worked with the agency over a period of several years to secure funding, and design and revise programs. They were recently put between a rock and a hard place when a partnering agency let them know that they would not be included in next year's funding application. In a panic, and deservedly so with only three weeks until the deadline, this agency wants me to respond to the same RFP they were just cut from. This entails creating a community collaborative of at least 10 partners, who will all have to assist in a needs assessment. Meanwhile, agency staff have to plan how to expand programming from one very well-established, precision targeted and long running program to include a program for foster youth, outreach to parents and the community at large, and possibly provide service opportunities for participating youth. Instead of finding a bullet for their new funding problem, they are hoping for a buckshot miracle.

I can see the amount of time and energy required--not just for writing the RFP response, but also hiring and training new staff, writing or researching new curriculum, and other strains that the organization may wish they were up to conquering. Their enthusiasm is met only by the fear that with a loss of funding, other funders will pull out as well. It is every organization's worst nightmare.

Instead of just telling them no, I have found a similar but smaller grant that has a deadline 3 months away. This grant from the same funding source is specifically targeted to programs that provide information and education, and has about half the minimum funding requirement compared to the RFP they approached me with. The additional funding they will receive will allow them to take the 6 months between award notification and the start of programming to have plenty of time to focus on their strength, information and education programming, and expand their program to already identified additional target populations while fortifying their position with current funders. There is no need to create a collaborative, and a much smaller set of documentation requirements.

Sometimes it is hard to say no to a chance to apply for funding. It can often feel like any money is better than no money. But when a deadline is short and everything seems impossible, listen to your gut instinct. No one at the agency was that excited about doing the work that the RFP would have required, which should have been the first sign. They contacted me because they hoped I could work a miracle. Hopefully, by finding a more appropriate funding source with a longer deadline, I have.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Kickstarter

I thought a great way to start off this blog would be to share a review of a website called Kickstarter. It's an innovative idea for creatives who need to raise funds, but it can be really useful for museums too. Basically, for my American readers, it's like a PBS fund drive. If you donate a certain amount of money toward a goal of say, $5,000 toward publishing a new exhibition catalogue, you get a reward (like say a past exhibition catalogue or some gift shop surplus stock). The difference is that only if the campaign makes the goal, then peoples' cards get charged. If the goal isn't met, no one pays.

One organization's experience:

LocalWiki and Kickstarter

And the actual Kickstarter website:

kickstarter.com

It's a new way to generate unrestricted funds, requiring a lot less effort than an event. Of course it has some drawbacks, but that's why I was so excited to see a review.