Just a quick observation about "hard" vs. "soft" money. In my experience, there is simply no difference between the two! Money is money, and the only thing that will ever protect a budget from being cut one year to the next is the commitment of the department head, the museum's director, and/or the museum's board to the program in question. At RSABG, for example, as much as 70% of our annual unrestricted operating budget come from our endowment. This is what most people would call "hard money." What happens, however, when a major recession reduces income from the endowment (as happened just a few years ago)? Well, that hard money softens up quite a bit! Someone or some program paid for on a multi-year grant from an outside funder may, in fact, fare much better in a budget cutting session than someone funded by the endowment. Likewise, any institution relying on admissions fees (not ours since we don't charge one) can be negatively affected by a reduction in gate revenues. Here at our Garden, our visitation dropped by about 10% this past spring due to a seemingly unending parade of rain storms. Our annual rainfall figure--normally 12 to 15 inches or so a year--was more than 35 inches for the year! What would we have done to compensate? Probably cut our budget. Soooo, I believe that one should never overlook an opportunity to get money from a grant to cover some portion of salaries, supplies or other "overhead" costs. Including money to relieve the operating budget of a part of someone's salary is the only way to obtain operating funds from many private corporations and foundations. Well, I'll be off the list for the next several days as I'll be out of town. I'd be interested to see what others think about this topic when I return next week. See ya! Richard Chute ([log in to unmask]) Dir. of Corp. & Fndtn. Rel. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden 1500 North College Ave. Claremont, CA 91711 Phone: (909) 625-8767, ext. 222 FAX: (909) 626-7670