Greetings Erica: Have you thought about moving away from the traditional 
type of plaque and adopting a method of acknowledgment that may help to 
influence the size of the donation? Some years ago I inspected the Fort 
Calgary Museum and saw what I can only describe as a kind of sculpture 
using various sizes of wood offcuts arranged in a pattern. I was told 
that donors were allocated a certain size block of wood, commensurate 
with the amount of the donation, on which the name of the organisation 
was inscribed.

The person showing me round also made the point that when new donors saw 
the display they were often encouraged to select a larger block of wood, 
so that they could demonstrate that they were more generous than a 
competitor or friend.

I have contacted Fort Calgary Museum for further information.
Regards
Desmond Kennard
Museums in the making
HILL TOP, NSW
Australia

Erica Maniez wrote:

> Hello, folks,
>
> We are currently raising funds for a new exhibit. We are thinking 
> about approaching local businesses to see if they would be willing to 
> donate $500 - $1,000 each for the project. Other than a sign or plaque 
> acknowledging their donation, I’m not sure what other “rewards” we 
> could offer them for contributing. We are a small museum, and the 
> project budget is about $17,500. Most of that is the construction of 
> new exhibit cases. The idea of naming each case after a business is 
> distasteful to me.
>
> How has your museum acknowledged corporate donors in the past?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Erica
>
> Erica S. Maniez
>
> Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society
>
> 425/392-3500
>
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> www.issaquahhistory.org
>
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