By: Amanda Wilkening

Please help!  I am a Museum Studies/MBA student at JFK University working on my masters project investigating the use of long term financial planning in museums. I've put together a survey for those who are involved in museum planning and finances, to measure the current baseline of museum financial planning and how well it integrates with strategic planning.  It is a quick, 20 question survey that can be answered in 5 minutes or less. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/museumfinancesurvey

Once I have some results, I will post what I’ve found out here for WestMuse blog readers.  In my research so far, I have come across many museum staff who have great intentions but are bogged down by all the conflicting advice and/or lack the resources to do what they know needs to be done.  I’m hoping that my research will identify best practices happening now and find scalable options for smaller museums.

As a thanks for the valuable time and information from those who participate, I will randomly choose one survey respondent to receive a copy of Bell, Masaoka and Zimmerman's great book Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability.

Amanda Wilkening is Museum Program Manager at the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA), located in downtown Oakland, CA. as well as a graduate student completing an MA/MBA in Museum Studies as John F. Kennedy University.  She has worked for various children’s museums and after school programs for fifteen years and decided to pursue a MA/MBA so she could learn more about keeping great programs sustainable.

MOCHA is a small gallery with a drop-in art studio and many offsite programs that serve more than 25,000 children each year. MOCHA provides hands-on arts learning experiences for children and their families in our museum, in schools and preschools, and in public venues. MOCHA also prepares educators to teach art and integrate arts learning across academic subject areas. All gallery shows feature children’s art work, whether it is local or international.  We advocate for the arts as an essential part of a strong, vital and diverse community. We emphasize outreach to children in low-income communities that do not typically have wide access to the arts.