Dear John,

Good luck!  You have a huge task ahead, as you probably know.  The secret to
success is establishing a broad base of funding -- diversifying your income
sources and having enough stability to support museum operations from year to
year.  Hence, the key components are (a) membership which constantly needs to
be expanded and there needs to be many levels of giving and members must have
incentives from time to time to upgrade their giving status;  (b) develop
museum earned income sources which may include building rental (weddings,
corporate functions, tv and movie crews -- cover those floors and charge
enough to make it worth the museum's while -- we used to get $3000 for one
16-hour day with a movie crew in one historic site where I worked, not a bad
day of work; the $3000 supported educational programs);  (c) on-going sources
of support:   try to expand services to your local school systems -- city,
parish, private schools -- it's best to find grants initially to fund these
services then, little by little, convince your local school boards to give the
museums a regular stipend each year  [that way you know that you will have x
number of dollars as operating support);  (d) annual fund raisers  -- make
these fun and creative -- e.g., our local nature center has a "Possum Trot"
-- a dance with animal themes!  (e) corporate sponsors -- be creative in what
incentives you can offer but try to get a number of local companies to give
every year so that again, you know that you have income for operations;  (f)
build an endowment for operations -- that's the best and takes the most work,
but in the long run, an endowment insures the future of your institution --
you invest the principal and run the museum on the interest;   (g)  your
programs and exhibits can be funded by grants and one-time requests to
individuals and corporations -- this is the easiest part of the picture to
fund;  (h) find a few angels -- the museum where I currently work has a few
rich folks who we call our "godfathers" who are always there in a pinch, knock
on wood, or who will just write a check when the museum has a special need;
(i)  find someone on your board  who can throw really good parties -- there
must be some socialite in your parish who will do this for the museum -- if
the fundraisers are fun and if they hold some status, people will support them
and in essence, support the museum.  i was on the board of the Atlanta
International Museum for several years just because they give the best parties
-- it was so much fun to serve on that board.  Finally, don't forget to
develop a really good museum store where the products are an extension of your
educational programs and encourage the local community to shop there for all
their gift giving needs.   Marketing is the key and good management.  Develop
a business plan for the store -- get some recently retired merchant to help
you with this.  Get a local business to fund $25,000 or $30,000 that you can
use to purchase the initial
merchandise so that you plow most of the profits back into expanding the store
without having to borrow money.   Also, set up memorial funds and special gift
giving opportunities for your members and publicize them.   Rummage sales and
kitchy country stores, crawfish boils, and those kind of events can be fun and
profitable if they are run well.   Find the right board members and committee
members who are committed to the museum and have the requisite skills for
successfully doing these activities.

Well, I'm sure other people have ideas,too.   It's a challenge to set up a new
museum but it's also great fun.

pamela sezgin, ph.d.
Georgia Mountains History Museum at Brenau University
Gainesville, Georgia

P.S.,  If you haven't done so already,  join your state museum association and
SEMC, the Southeastern Museums Conference.  They host great workshops and you
can learn beaucoups at the annual conference in Birmingham next October
(1999).    Also,  call those wonderful folks at the Louisiana State Museum in
New Orleans -- they are so helpful.   I'm sure their development and marketing
people can be a resource for you.   If you need help with museum issues like
conservation, preservation, archiving, artifact identification, and other
technical matters, I know they can help.  I believe Tim Lupin's new job is to
go out in the field and assist small museums like yours.