ABSTRACT
Museums are increasingly expected to innovate, explore, experiment, and create new projects and programs to contribute to their community’s well-being. To help museum leaders, boards and potential funders respond to opportunities and needs, this chapter investigates museum business models and reveals which models provide stability and opportunities for future growth. This chapter complements other studies concerning nonprofit growth and sustainability by defining the three organizational types through a detailed analysis of hundreds of museums. The outcomes of the analysis illustrate an approach for identifying where a particular museum is on its developmental path, what are the opportunities for, and risks to, leadership in attempts to innovate at different points along the developmental pathway, and where to step off the path or speed progress towards the next milestone. Recognizing the watershed points that can successfully channel a museum away from its currently anticipated developmental path can provide an opportunity for innovative and beneficial community outcomes. Such points generally involve a dramatic change in the mix of revenue streams, not an incremental drift towards a new direction. It also serves as a caution that, while many museums can benefit from adapting proven approaches from other institutions that may appear similar to them, consideration must be given to different histories and community contexts that have shaped that other museum’s path. This perspective on growth and innovation is even more important as museums seek to both sustain and innovate their work and to provide resiliency and stability to their communities.
