>On Wed, 15 Feb 1995, Robert O. Dahl wrote:
 
> I am trying to locate self-supporting museums in the U.S. and Canada. I
> define these as institutions that produce their own capital by admissions,
> memberships, programs, fund raising, gift shop, etc., but without any
> govt. funding. The only one I know of is The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
> in Tucson, AZ. Can anyone help me out in finding some others?
 
Robert:
 
By self-supporting, are you referring to non-profit institutions that rely
on non-government, earned income and support (grants, personal philanthropy,
etc.) dollars to cover their operating budgets?  If you are looking for
NPO's that operate on 100% earned income, I think such places are either
rare, small, or a fiction on paper.
 
The ASTC, in late '93 or early '94, published a very interesting article on
the earned income/support equation.  An institution's mix of these two
sources of revenue goes a long way in defining the character of a place.  As
I recall, some museums and science centers surveyed had an 80/20 mix one way
or the other.  The article suggested that the ideal mix should be somewhere
in the 65/35 range. As an example, I think the Exploratorium was mentioned
as having an earned income percentage, during the survey period, of
somewhere around 30.
 
As a rule of thumb, a high earned income percentage often indicates an
institution is more-or-less adult-oriented and perhaps relies on a non-local
visitor base.  A high percentage on the support side (gov. or non-gov.)
often reflects a highly youth-oriented museum that is community-based.
 
 
 
 
 
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Rich Jones                              Governing Board For:
Development Director                    Carter House Natural Science Museum
Shasta Natural Science Association      Redding Arboretum By The River
[log in to unmask]              SNSA Environmental Resources Center