Author Brian Alexander examines news stories about museum financial triumphs and challenges to highlight varying levels of financial success or distress that are remarkably similar. The size, discipline or location of the museum did not seem to matter, nor did the amount of budgets. It was the nature of the problems that fell into predictable patterns. Each story reveals an important, instructional window into the financial realities faced by today's museums. The stories are familiar ones: the struggle to be financially sustainable, the search for new revenue streams, limited oversight and checks and balances, unfounded optimism over revenue projections and lack of engagement in financial matters. These were balanced with decisive museum leadership, trustee solidarity, institutional courage, creative entrepreneurship and effective planning. Museum Finance: Issues, Challenges, and Successes looks at why museum finance is inherently challenging and how difficult it is to balance the need to generate adequate funding while providing accessible, meaningful mission-based services. The book's purpose is to help museum leaders at all levels recognize and avoid certain financial minefields and realize that while there are financial hurdles in the museum world, they are solvable. The book is filled with numerous examples illustrating the range of challenges faced by museums and how institution have met these challenges along with advice on how institutions can be successful in the face of financial difficulty.
Brian Alexander is Visiting Professor of Museum Administration and Director of the Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship at the State University of New York's Cooperstown Graduate Program. He teaches classes in museum administration, governance, finance, project management, strategic planning, fundraising, cultural entrepreneurship and professional development. Alexander has 38 years of experience working in the museum field and has been a member of the faculty at Cooperstown since 2013. Prior to coming to the Cooperstown Graduate Program he served as President & CEO of the National World War I Museum; President & CEO of the Historic Annapolis Foundation; Executive-Vice President & Director of the Shelburne Museum; Director of the State Museum of North Dakota; Historic Site Superintendent for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Assistant Superintendent for the Historic Sites Program of Fairfax County, Virginia. Alexander has served on numerous AAM Accreditation Visiting Committees, as a faculty member for the Seminar for Historical Administration and as a consultant for the AAM Museum Assessment Programs. He has been a museum consultant, has spoken widely at museum association meetings, was a board member of the National Council of the American Association for State & Local History and a Grants Reviewer/Panelist for IMLS, NEH and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Alexander received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois, and a certificate in Museum Management from the University of Colorado. His articles "Collections & Controversy" (History News) and "Asset Management: Survival of the Financially Fittest "(American Federation of the Arts) discuss deaccessioning and museum finance.
