Museums

From: Marvin <marvin_at_rain.org>
Date: Wed Mar 24 01:11:20 1999

Megan wrote:
>
> Does anyone know if there might happen to be any grants or something
> equivalent that such an organization might be able to apply for?
>
> Doing a little more thinking about memberships, I was thinking of
> a tiered approach (typical) which ranks members on their level of
> usage of the facilities. And maybe there could be breaks for those
> who provide help to others... (just some more rambling)

I have done some checking into financing such a venture and it appears that,
at least out here, seed money could probably be made available. The biggest
problem is ongoing support for overhead. Some friends of mine had talked
about a number of ways to help support such a venture:

Gift Shop
Computer Classes
ISP
Memberships
Special events/services for people making larger donations (gotta be careful
of the tax code here though)
Peripheral Services that could be provided by the older machines
Admission charges
Monthly Newsletter/Magazine

And the list goes on. I think Sam said it best though when he said it takes
vision and persistance! It goes without saying that a number of dedicated
people with the appropriate time and energy to get it started would be
required. Starting life as a 501C3 corp sounds like a good start. Another
way that can help ease getting money is to ensure that education is involved
for kids; classes, demonstrations, etc.
Received on Wed Mar 24 1999 - 01:11:20 GMT