January 12, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
Is Your Museum Grant-Ready?: Assessing Your Organization’s Potential for Funding
by Sarah S. Brophy
About 10 years ago, the Sandwich Glass Museum wasn’t getting many repeat visitors. When the Massachusetts museum interviewed people to see why they weren’t returning, it found that visitors were disappointed the institution didn’t have a glassmaking demonstration. The museum used that information to win a $440,000 grant that helped it build a new furnace and facility to showcase the craft.
The museum succeeded because it was “grant ready,” writes Sarah S. Brophy, and its leaders could show that the grant money would meet a real need. In this book, Ms. Brophy, a grant-proposal writer in Carlisle, Mass., explains how other museums and nonprofit groups can determine if they are prepared to seek grants and can succeed in the process.
Ms. Brophy gives grant seekers a list of questions they can ask to assess their readiness, and introduces them to the ways in which foundations evaluate requests for money. She coaches museums on how to develop relationships with grant makers, make themselves stand out from other grant seekers, and determine which foundations would make the best partners. For museums that are able to win big grants, she provides advice on maintaining relationships with donors and momentum to thrive financially over the longer term.
Publisher: AltaMira Press, 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Md. 20706; http://www.altamirapress.com/; 191 pages; $26.95; ISBN 0-7591-0651-7.
