Colleen wrote:  <<Does anyone calculate profit for their membership
program?<br>>If so, how?  (Is it just revenue less costs of operation?)

Mike Radice Replies:  Not all of the operating costs of a museum are directly
associated with the cost of the membership program.  Light, heat, a curator's
salary, security, are operating costs of the museum rather than of the 
membership program.  Also, not all of the income received by most museums
comes from memberhips.  Percentages vary, of course, but for most of us, the
percentage is rather small compared to other sources of income. ...  To
understand the financial effectiveness of a membership program you'd have to
know how much the program cost and what its expenses are.  Then, you'd have to
subtract the two.  This is nearly impossible to do because the expenses
involved in attracting members cross departmental budgets.

There are some also some terminology issues that may muck-up some of our
responses.  Some of the terminology you're using is for "profit" corporations.
 Accounting terminology for profit and not-for-profit corporations vary.

Colleen Wrote:  >>Does anyone tract retail/catering spend for their members?
Is this used in profit calculations?  Does anyone estimate or measure lost
admission revenue (through member repeat visitation)?  Is this incorporated in
calculation of profit?>>

Mike Radice Replies:  At this point, it might be good to visit the "theory" of
membership.  A membership program is only partly about attracting dollars.  It
is also about attracting supporters.  Their numbers (# of members) are part of
the museum's story about how much nonfinancial support it has.  It tells the
world that people love our museum, and therefore "you should too."  A
membership program is also very much about attracting volunteers and ideas,
and about having a sufficient gaggle of mouths out there to tell your story to
others.  These aspects, which in my opinion may be more important than the
money (when it comes to a membership program), are not financially measurable.
 If we start trying to measure them, we'll loose sight of them.  

Mike Radice
Program Development Director
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
66 Allen St.
New York, NY  10002
212-431-0233 x231

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