On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 8:36 AM, Megan ONeill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> After undergoing possible massive budget cuts, our nonprofit, state funded
> museum is expected to be self sufficient in the next couple of years.

Yikes! This will require a huge shift in your focus, a transition that
will likely be difficult and painful. The best-case scenario would be
to find a single, large, reliable donor to replace the state's
funding. This is unlikely, but it's such a great payoff that it is
definitely worth investigating. (Find out who has money and cares
about your subject, and go to town.)

You're probably going to have to rely upon multiple sources of income
-- fewer is better. I've seen  organizations fall apart because they
try to manage too many small streams of money; the overhead kills you.
It's a much better fiscal policy to have $100,000 donated by five big
corporate donors than by two thousand members. (Of course, your
mission statement may be better satisfied with two thousand members,
but we're talking about keeping the organization alive.)

I recommend you take a look at the book "Filthy Rich & Other Nonprofit
Fantasies" by Richard Steckel. I think it's a very viable take on
modern nonprofits and have tried to apply these principles to the ones
I'm involved with. Unfortunately, none of them have been willing to
shift out of their old ways of thinking, so they're still barely
surviving. Sigh.

-- 
Margaret
[log in to unmask]

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