Keeping the Lights on: Why Business and Profits Matter

When most people think about museums, they picture galleries, artifacts, and exhibits. That is the most important part afterall! Educating the public using hands-on activities and curated objects. However, after learning more about how museums operate, I’ve realized that there is an entire team working behind the scenes to make those experiences possible. Business professionals keep museums financially healthy, out of the red as it were! Without their work, even the most incredible collections would struggle to reach the public.

In this post, I’ll define what museum business and management includes, discuss the responsibilities of professionals in this area, explain how technology supports their work, explore the importance of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI), and reflect on how this area connects to my own personal and professional interests.

What Is Museum Business and Management?

I define museum business and management as the administrative and financial team that keeps a museum operating effectively. These professionals make decisions about budgets, fundraising, strategic planning, human resources, marketing, partnerships, and organizational leadership. Their work ensures that museum staff have the resources needed to preserve collections, create exhibitions, and serve their communities. 

Unlike curators or educators, business professionals don’t tend to interact directly with visitors every day. However, their decisions influence nearly every aspect of the museum. They balance financial sustainability with the museum’s educational and cultural goals, making sure the institution can continue serving the public over the long term.

The Most Important Responsibilities

One of the biggest responsibilities of museum management is maintaining the museum’s financial health. This includes developing budgets, securing grants, managing donations, overseeing fundraising campaigns, and ensuring that resources are used responsibly.

Looking at the publicly available financial information for the Norfolk Botanical Garden shows us just how significant this responsibility is. Museums manage millions of dollars in assets, operating expenses, and charitable contributions while remaining accountable to donors, government agencies, and the public (ProPublica, n.d.). Sound financial management helps museums preserve collections, support staff, develop educational programming, and invest in future exhibitions.

How Technology Supports Museum Management

Technology has become essential to museum business operations. Financial management software allows administrators to monitor budgets and spending more efficiently, while customer relationship management (CRM) systems help development staff track donors, memberships, and fundraising campaigns.

Technology also provides valuable data that helps museum leaders make informed decisions. Website analytics, ticketing systems, visitor surveys, and social media metrics allow museums to understand audience interests and evaluate the success of programs. Digital communication tools make it easier to connect with donors, members, volunteers, and community partners.

Technology also increases transparency and accountability by improving financial reporting and organizational planning. Rather than relying solely on intuition, museum managers can use data to guide their decisions in order to strengthen both operations and visitor experiences.

Why DEAI is Important in Business and Management 

One lesson that stood out to me throughout this course is that diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not only concerns for educators or curators. Business and management professionals play an equally important role in making DEAI a reality. One of the most striking statistics to come from what I have learned in school and research is that to this day many museums are still predominantly run by white men. While smaller positions have become more diverse over the years, higher levels of business and management within the museum world have still remained inaccessible to those outside of a certain socio and economic background. 

Financial decisions determine which programs receive funding, which communities are prioritized, and whether accessibility improvements become possible. Hiring practices, board development, staff training, and partnerships all fall under organizational leadership, making management a driving force behind institutional change.

Bazan, Black, Thurn, and Usbeck (2021) explain that museums should embed DEAI principles throughout their organizations rather than treating them as isolated initiatives. Their discussion of repatriation and public programming illustrates how institutional leadership must support equitable practices through both policy and resource allocation.

Similarly, Museums in a Time of Migration emphasizes that museums increasingly serve diverse communities with different cultural experiences and expectations (Bevelander & Johansson, 2018). Business leaders influence whether museums have the financial resources and organizational commitment needed to respond to those changing communities in meaningful ways.

Final Thoughts

Museum business and management may not be as well loved as exhibitions or collections, but it serves as a major part of a museum’s foundation that allows every other department to succeed. While I personally have no connections with the business and analytic side of the museum I have come to appreciate what higher ups do outside of simply holding the view that they are greedy and money hungry. This course has shown me that successful museums are much more than places that display objects. They are complex organizational structures that require thoughtful leadership, responsible management, and most importantly, money to stay afloat. The professionals working behind the scenes make it possible for museums to fulfill their missions and maintain access to what they need in order to do so.

References

Bazan, E., Black, S. W., Thurn, N., & Usbeck, F. (2021). Repatriation, public programming, and the DEAI toolkit. Journal of Museum Education, 46(1), 27–37.

Bevelander, P., & Johansson, C. (Eds.). (2018). Museums in a Time of Migration: Rethinking Museums’ Roles, Representations, Collections, and Collaborations. Nordic Academic Press.

ProPublica. (n.d.). Norfolk Botanical Garden Financial Information. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/540788933/202621359349312277/full