YEEEEESSS!!!

O

Olivia S. Anastasiadis, Curator
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, CA  92886
(714) 993-5075 ext. 224; fax (714) 528-0544; e-mail:  [log in to unmask]

On Tue, 28 Jul 1998 16:15:45 -0400 Deb Fuller
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>At 02:42 PM 7/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
>> I only made $20,000 a year--that's less than most beginning teachers
>(another low paid job).  But then again, if I had been interested in
>only
>money I never would have gotten into this field.  I am doing what I
>love
>and that is more important to me.
>
>Depends on where you are.  Begining teachers with a BA in the Northern
>Virginia area (right outside of DC) start around $28K.  With an M.A.,
>starting pay is around $32K.  Top pay is around $60K.  At the
>Smithsonian,
>entry level GS-5 work is about $20K with curators being at least as
>GS-9,
>around $30K.  In the Shenandoah Valley in some counties, starting
>teacher's
>salaries are around $18K, but the few museums there are out there pay
>even
>less.
>
>>There are museums out there who have money but are still skimpy in
>the
>salary area.  Then >again, there are hundreds if not thousands of
>museums
>who simply can't afford to pay more.  >As long as I work at a museum
>where
>I am respected and I'm doing what I love, I'll put up with >the low
>pay.
>
>For small museums, I can understand the low pay.  For larger ones, I
>don't
>understand it.  I think a lot of it has to do with the management
>level
>people are museum people as opposed to business people.  No, we aren't
>in
>it for the profits but even the big non-profit organizations out there
>have
>at least one person on their staff with an MBA in financial planning.
>Why
>don't museums?  If we want to make the best use of what money we have,
>we
>need to start thinking like businesses and not like museums.
>Increasing
>admissions, begging for donations and relying on grants isn't going to
>make
>it.  Museums need to get people knoweldgeable in business finance,
>specifically non-profit business finance, to look at where money is
>being
>wasted and how money can be spent wiser.  It might turn out that a few
>"exclusive" wine and cheese parties a year will fund a 5% salary
>increase.
>Or maybe completely restructuring the membership program will attract
>more
>donors.  The gift shop could be run very ineffeciently or marketing is
>lacking.  There are lots of opportunities to get money needed to run a
>museum and pay the employees a respectable wage.  No, we aren't ever
>going
>to be paid as much as computer consultants but we don't need to earn a
>pittance just because we love our jobs either.
>
>Deb Fuller
>
>--------------------------------------------
>Staples &  Charles Ltd.
>225 N Fairfax St.
>Alexandria, VA 22314
>USA
>703-683-0900 - voice
>703-683-2820 - fax
>[log in to unmask]
>

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