I do not think it ethical or reasonable to ask staff to pay to be members of the museum they work for. That is a hair's width away from "pay to play (work)". Essentially it boils down to "you must have enough money to buy this membership in order to work here" which is a whole world of wrong, and in a profession that is grappling with issues of wage fairness and staff diversity it is really unacceptable. As to if there's any guidelines that specifically call it out...I can't think of any that would say, ruin your chances of accreditation or something. However, I think that it is simply the wrong thing to do, and it will hurt morale and hurt future recruitment efforts. I feel similarly about asking employees to donate to the institution they work for- voluntary donations are great and many staff make them as part of their annual charitable giving or estate planning-but solicited donations and staff donation campaigns make me very uncomfortable in the same way that asking staff to fork over for membership would. Just my personal opinion, Tracey On Saturday, May 30, 2015, Christa McCay <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Amy, > Staff should not be required or even asked to become members. The board, > on the other hand, should all be members of your institution. The fact is > staff paychecks comes from the institution, membership money goes back into > your institution, most likely a different line item in the budget but > still, so in reality you are just giving back a portion of your own > paycheck. Just my opinion. > > Christa McCay, M.H.P. > Registrar > Marietta Museum of History > 1 Depot Street, Ste. 200 > Marietta, GA 30060 > 770-794-5726 > > > Quoting Amy Kelch <[log in to unmask]>: > > I work at a small museum that asks its employees to purchase museum >> memberships. It is not required, but almost all staff and the board are >> paying members of the museum. This practice seems to barely toe the >> ethical >> line, especially since several staff have expressed discomfort about being >> asked. >> >> Has anyone else encountered this issue or know of any readings or museum >> ethical codes that speak to this issue? I am looking for something to >> reference since this is something new to me. >> >> Thanks! >> >> ========================================================= >> 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). >> >> > ========================================================= > 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). > -- [log in to unmask] 821 25th Street Ambridge, PA 15003 Ph: 412.443.2654 Twitter: @BergFulton <http://twitter.com/#%21/BergFulton> Connect on LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/traceybergfulton> ========================================================= 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).