Hi, James --

To begin, I hope you will find some way to keep your
museum store going -- it's a great PR and educational
tool when stocked with merchandise related to your
collection and mission.

Stores can be difficult for volunteer groups to run,
though, unless you have a very large group of people
clamoring for volunteer opportunities.  Perhaps
you can recruit some volunteers from outside the
Friends to run it, or hire part-time staff (possibly
area students?) to keep it going during peak
attendance
periods?  with regular employee(s) responsible for
selecting merchandise, making sure the stock is
updated and handling the money and financial records?

As far as the Friends group goes, can you increase
membership beyond "founding" families?  From what
I've read about similar situations, this can be a
somewhat difficult proposition.  The very devoted core
group may resist new members. Over time organizations
with very small and closely-knit membership groups can
 become an alternative or addition to the various
places where people feel comfortable in the social
milieu.  Longtime members may not necessarily welcome
newcomers because that will alter the nature of the
organization.

As far as activities that Friends groups sponsor --
they are myriad but keep on top of what's happening
to make sure the activities are actually increasing
the bottom line, assuming your goal is to raise funds
for the museum, rather than increase member benefits.
A lot of staff time can get absorbed in helping
Friends with their events so "fundraising" basically
reimburses the museum for expenses they would never
have incurred.

Among activities the museum where I worked used as
fund raisers were a family fun run called Dinosaur
Dash held in late April.  This was at the start of the
outdoor running season in this latitude and it quickly
became hugely popular with a number of corporate
sponsorships helping defray costs.  It was a great
opportunity for staff to volunteer to help the museum.
 Participants  wore the great t-shirts they got
(sponsored by a local dept. store) for years, ongoing
advertising for the museum that would have been
difficult to purchase.


The other annual event (and I think this one is still
on the calendar) is a very high-end dinner held each
fall with dancing, a silent auction, valet parking for
party-goers' cars, etc.  Each year's Gala was themed
and became part of the social calendar.

Less elaborate, but still nice, parties were held in
conjunction with the opening of new permanent or
temporary exhibits and the opening celebrations
normally had a stiff price tag to cover expenses
beyond what sponsors covered. People were willing to
come to these evening events because it gave them an
advance
opportunity to see the exhibit without jostling
through
school groups or tour groups to get a view.

Lectures and demonstrations (with special admission
fees), birthday parties and after school/summer
programs for children, guided tours (in-state and more
exotic locales) were among programs begun by our
Friends group.  Many of the more successful ones were
eventually taken over and run by development and
marketing staff and offered to the general public, in
addition to Friends members.

Another possibility to consider is to partner with
other cultural organizations in your town to do some
sort of movable event where party-goers can travel
from site to site, perhaps after work, or on a weekend
 evening when most wouldn't be open at all.

Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI


--- "Burns, James (William)" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I work for a relatively small community history
> museum.  We have a
> "Friends" group that is going through a major
> transition and is trying
> to redefine itself.



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