Smarter Museums – News from the Frontlines at the AAM Conference

I love going to Minneapolis and St. Paul.  JCA has a number of clients in the twin cities and it’s always great to catch up with them to see how they’re doing.  This year, the American Association of Museums (AAM) held their annual conference in the twin cities, with a number of fantastic events hosted by our clients including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Walker Art Center and the Minnesota History Center.  The events were wonderful as we all celebrated these great cultural venues and all that they represent.

But digging deeper, not all was as wonderful as it seemed.

The museum community as a whole continues to battle declining attendance, soft membership renewal rates and decreased federal, state and local government support. 

AFP 2012: Buzz of a Turning Tide

There was a real buzz at the AFP show this year.  After some really challenging years in which the recession, corporate mergers and the devastation of endowments had put nonprofits in survival mode, the tide has clearly turned.  Many of the exhibitors reported that business has been really good this past year and their pipelines are continuing to build.  It’s clear that we’re on the upswing and the worst is well behind us.  Nonprofits are, once again, feeling confident that they can afford to reinvest in their futures.  Whether they’re considering long-delayed technology upgrades or expanding their programs, nonprofits are back.  But, hopefully, the lessons of accountability and pragmatism that nonprofits learned from the great recession will not be forgotten.

Steve Jacobson is President & CEO of Jacobson Consulting Applications, Inc. (JCA)
JCA provides strategic consulting to the world’s leading nonprofits.

AFP Speaker to Charities: “Reinvent!” Is That Wise or Reckless?

On Sunday at the General Session, Scott Harrison spoke about his life story, his interest in clean water, and the story and guiding principles of the organization he founded and continues to run, charity: water.  Scott is a great speaker and reeled the audience in with his tale of a good, Christian boy turned rebel, turned debauched nightclub promoter and, finally, returned to his roots of compassion and caring.  A story about redemption and success is almost certain to be inspirational.  And it was.  Scott challenged the audience to think outside the box, to take risks and challenge the status quo.  And that got me thinking…

Can an established organization afford to do this?  Can they risk all that they’ve built to “change it up”?

Listen in: Hot Technology Topics Nonprofits Are Talking About in 2012

Now that we are one month into 2012, I wanted to take a moment to share the top technology trends and topics we are hearing about from the CFOs, CIOs and CEOs of leading nonprofit organizations.

Unblocking the Enterprise project backlog: As a result of the 2008/2009 recession and the subsequent funding uncertainties, many nonprofits put off investing in core technology projects. However, in 2011, we began to see more and more organizations giving the green light for major enterprise-wide projects that had been stalled since the recession.  We predict that this trend will continue to gain steam in 2012.  As a sense of stability has gradually returned, the backlog of critical projects has begun to loosen.  For example,

What To Do When Your Software Is Purchased by Another Vendor

First, how well does the software currently serve your organization’s needs? Is this a system that you’ve been unhappy with for years or have outgrown significantly? Or is it a pretty serviceable system, meeting your business needs at the current time? Either way, it’s time to take a critical look at the system and defining what your needs are (or soon will be) to see if there’s a gap.

Arts Funding Crisis in the UK

Greetings from London, where the arts world is bracing for its worst crisis since 1974, when a combination of steep increases in the price of oil and a coal strike paralyzed the UK economy and, by extension, the arts world.  Fast forward to 2011, and we have another potential oil shock coupled with impending government austerity measures of the like never seen in post-war times.  Unlike in the States, where there is a culture of fundraising and private support for the arts, the UK has long subsidized its arts community with free admission to many museums and heavy subsidies for non-profit theatres.  British patrons, especially those of the middle class, feel entitled to free or heavily discounted access – and it appears that is going to change, and change drastically.

Our clients here are scared.  In theatres, where government support can account for 50% or more, there will be huge holes in their budgets should national and local support go to zero – a real possibility given current budget discussions.  And museums face the real – and terrifying – prospect of having to charge admission to cover their anticipated shortfalls.  How will British patrons respond?  Will there be an outpouring of private support?  Will the privileged and cultured middle class pay for something that they’ve taken for granted as their right?

JCA Helps Nonprofits Bridge the Technology Gap

In this week’s Crain’s New York Business, columnist Anne Fischer featured JCA in an article about nonprofits and their struggle to implement and maintain technology.  Citing JCA’s involvement with the Kaufman Center’s technology overhaul, Crain’s focused on the high stakes and challenges that nonprofits face as they try to automate and streamline their operations.  While we are happy to report that we and the Kaufman Center were successful in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of Kaufman’s key systems and business processes, the outcome is often not the same for other nonprofits.  Lack of technical expertise, insufficient funding and tepid support from key executives and board members are all too often a prescription for failure.  It’s long past the time when nonprofits can get away with underinvesting in technology.  But technology in a vacuum is never the answer: it’s also about people and process, and the willingness to effect change.

We are proud to contribute to the Kaufman Center’s success.  Let us know if we can do the same for your organization.

Read the original Crain’s article here.

Steve Jacobson is President & CEO of Jacobson Consulting Applications, Inc. (JCA)
JCA provides strategic consulting to the world’s leading nonprofits.

Welcome to the JCA Insights Blog

As part of JCA’s commitment to the nonprofit community, we are proud to announce the launch of the JCA Insights pages on our website.  Inside you will find blogs, white papers and other resources intended to help you, the nonprofit professional, benefit from JCA’s insights into best practices from around the country – and around the world. Since 1988, when I founded Jacobson Consulting Applications, our mission has been to help our clients understand what they are trying to accomplish, and then to make sure that they are equipped with the people, processes and technology needed to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Whether it is fundraising or ticketing, the tools may change but our approach remains the same: align the right tools with the right people so that an organization can accurately measure progress toward their goals and ultimately achieve them.     

Each year, JCA works with a number of the world’s leading nonprofit and cultural organizations.  In the course of our work, we have learned that achieving best practices is a continual process of improvement.   Through these blogs, we seek to continue the dialogue we’ve established with our clients and to allow others to benefit from our more than 22 years of consulting experience.

I hope that you’ll find useful information here. Most importantly, we encourage your feedback.  Our hope is to create a forum for the people who are at the pinnacle of their profession to connect with one another, share best practices and improve the sector so we can all do more good in this world.

If you think there is a way we can help you work smarter, please feel free to contact us at smarter@jcainc.com or 888-446-4588 and let us know how.

Steve Jacobson is President & CEO of Jacobson Consulting Applications, Inc. (JCA)
JCA provides strategic consulting to the world’s leading nonprofits.