Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 184
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-5381-0030-1 • Hardback • August 2017 • $98.00 • (£75.00)
978-1-5381-0031-8 • Paperback • August 2017 • $48.00 • (£37.00)
978-1-5381-0032-5 • eBook • August 2017 • $45.50 • (£35.00)
Rebekah Beaulieu, Ph.D. is the Associate Director at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, where she oversees financial, legal, and risk management, as well as museum operations and administration. She previously served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Winchester Historical Society and the Sanborn House Historical and Cultural Center in Winchester, Massachusetts. Rebekah has extensive experience in nonprofit financial management, fundraising, and board relations and has presented workshops on grant writing, budget management, and fiscal sustainability in historic sites.
Chapter One: Building the Foundation: Organizational Structure and Incorporation
Chapter Two: The Welcome Mat: Understanding Contributed Income
Chapter Three: Brick by Brick: Earned Revenue Opportunities
Chapter Four: The Door Swings Both Ways: Managing Income and Expenses
Chapter Five: Blueprints for the Future: Financial Forecasting and Strategic Planning
Chapter Six: Conclusion
With this superb guidebook, Rebekah Beaulieu fills a central need for preservationists and house museums all over America. In crisp, clear prose, and using valuable case studies throughout, she walks us step-by-step through the critical but often daunting financial and organizational tasks that can help ensure a long life as a house museum, from incorporation and designation to fundraising, budgeting, and long-term strategic planning. There are roughly 15,000 house museums in the United States, and every one of them could benefit from this remarkable volume.
— Stephanie Meeks, president and CEO, National Trust for Historic Preservation
In a clear and concise manner Rebekah Beaulieu outlines all anyone needs to know about financial management and related legal requirements. The book takes you through all the necessary financial activities, from one stage to the next, using real life case studies, and a useful checklist that are essential for a sustainable and successful historic house museum. This book will be of tremendous use to staff, board members, volunteers, preservationists, and both students and faculty in museum studies programs.
— Kenneth C. Turino, Manager of Community Engagement and Exhibitions, Historic New England and adjunct faculty, museum studies, Tufts University
People who work with historic house museums typically do it because they love the collection, stories, and daily interaction with the past. But when it comes to the business of actually running a museum, well, they sometimes could use a little help. That’s where Financial Fundamentals for Historic House Museums adds to the health of the field: in providing basic, easy to understand guidance for museum folks who need to keep their mission supplied with the money and business practices required for long-term sustainability.
— Dan Yaeger, Executive Director, New England Museum Association