Six months operating reserve is often recommended here.  It allows you
to survive most major unplanned occurances (e.g. closure due to foot and
mouth disease restrictions or recovering from a major flood or fire).  I
would put 5% as a minimum going above 50% might raise some questions for
something classed as purely an operating reserve. However you might want
to have a building maintenance reserve (if the property needs re-roofing
in 10 years time, then putting a tenth of that aside into a maintenance
reserve is good practice).  You might want to have an IT reserve so that
you can replace your computers and network every five years.

Trevor Reynolds
Collections Registrar, English Heritage, Room 530, 23 Savile Row, London
W1S 2ET, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7973 3482  Fax: +44 (0) 20 7973 3209

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Carol Ely
> Sent: 28 June 2005 16:53
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: operating reserve
> 
> >>>>You need to check on what the rules are for carryover of funds
with
> your parent agency. If it's a government agency (county, city,
> state), there may not be a way to carry funds forward.>>>
> 
> I should have made it clear in the original question - we have no
parent
> agency, we're an independent non-profit. You suggest 5-10% of a year's
> budget - my board is suggesting a 50-100% reserve.
> 
> So, what's the norm, and is there a limit? Anyone else?
> 
> Carol Ely
> Historic Locust Grove
> Louisville
> 
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