December 03, 2007
Indianapolis Museum Makes Friends by Sharing Statistics
What has 10,231 members, consumes 349,760 kilowatts of electricity daily, and has generated $669,000 in retail sales this year?
The answer is the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which puts these somewhat obscure facts (and many others, too) on its Web site on a page called the IMA Dashboard.
And the museum is earning praise from Jeff Brooks, creative director at Merkle Direct, on his Donor Power Blog.
Mr. Brooks writes that the museum is sending a great message to potential donors and patrons by openly providing statistical information about its operations.
“The very fact that they’re sharing it makes people respect the museum more,” Mr. Brooks writes. “And who knows what info-sated donors might choose to do for an organization they feel trusts and respects them?”
Do most nonprofit organizations do enough to share key information with the public? Is it risky to provide statistics about finances and results on a public Web site? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.
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I wrote about this last month. I wondered about sharing statistics out of context .... a lively discussion in the comments ensued
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/11/indianapolis-mu.html
— Beth Kanter Dec 9, 05:01 PM #