What I think might be going on here is the difference in mind-set from large museums to small. In a large museum with larger budgets, it is indeed not cost effective to spend staff time looking for small donations when they can be looking for large donations. A larger museum is also more likely to have more stuff going on, more need for "stuff and money" and there is more of a potential for going to the well more often than may be considered seemly by the local businesses. In a small museum with a smaller budget, smaller salaries, and less programs (I realize these are gross generalizations, but I think they are true for the most part) asking for smaller donations of stuff and money is a more effective use of staff time and you have the potential of saving more money in terms of percentage of budget. Smaller museums tend also to have more immediate cash flow problems and therefore may not have the cash on hand or have corporate credit cards to cover smaller expenses. Also, a smaller museum tends to have a more intimate relationship with community businesses and the act of soliciting a small donation would probably be seen in a more positive light by the business. i.e. the local hardware store may see giving the small house museum as a more immediate way to give to the community and helping a needy charity, whereas the same solicitation may be seen as penny pinching by a large museum especially if that museum has been in the news for receiving a large grant or touting its next million dollar expansion. A large museum may also be seen as a less personal donation if the development department is large and has high turnover than a small museum with the same director and staff for five years. I guess it all depends on context. Issues are seldom as simple as they appear in a brief email post. -- Matthew White Director of Museums Mount Washington Observatory Want to know more? Visit our web site at www.mountwashington.org Aaron Marcavitch Wrote: > Seriously? WOW! I have always been taught that any time I am doing anything > for a non-profit, I > should do it as cheaply as possibly. I dont find anything wrong with seeking > donations. If I can > save that 50 bucks for something else or to make my bottom line work, I am > going to do it. For my > Eagle Scout project, instead of spending 15 bucks on two pizzas, I had them > donated. I just saved > 15 dollars that later went into something else (in this case a patch kit for > our tents). > > Aaron ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).