Just who is this Sarah Brophy?

I am an independent professional who works with museums, aquariums, historical societies and historic preservation organizations to develop sustainable museums through funding, mainstreaming and green performance.

One of the best places for museum training is Colonial Williamsburg. I earned my Masters in American History from the College of William & Mary, Virginia, and a Certificate in History Administration Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Since then I have been employed in museums in Massachusetts, Colorado, New York and Virginia. For the last fifteen years I've been working independently for organizations in New England. Now I also work for clients in the Mid-Atlantic states.

In the fall of 2006 my writing partner, Elizabeth Wylie, and I wrote “Being Green: Museums in the Green Movement” for Museum News. It's available online at www.aam-us.org if you're an AAM member. If you'd like a free copy, please send me an email at sarah@bmuse.net. My book, Is Your Museum Grant-Ready? (see below for summary), was published in fall 2005 by AltaMira Press as part of the AASLH History Book Series (American Association for State and Local History). I also write about museums and cultural resource activities in local and regional papers and magazines. My articles on grantsmanship appear regularly on Charity Channel's Grants & Foundation Review (*see Recommended Reading).

My current volunteer project is leading public tours at the world-class Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD, but I've had stints as a volunteer in archives, oral history, archaeology, gravestone restoration and programs at a variety of historical agencies in the US and England. On the US national level I have been a board member and President of the American Association of Museum Volunteers (AAMV), Chair of the American Association of Museums' (AAM) Council of Affiliates and its representative to the AAM Board. I’m now a member of the Advisory Board for AAMV, part of the American Association for State and Local History's Incremental Standards Committee, and a Subject Matter Expert on museums for the American Association of Grant Professionals for their Certification Institute.

A summary of Is Your Museum Grant-Ready? follows:

Is Your Museum Grant-Ready?: Assessing Your Organization's Potential for Funding by Sarah Brophy
Published by AltaMira Press

Before you start writing grant proposals, or if you're not having much luck winning grants, take the time to look at your institution: are you really ready to attract grant funding? You've probably evaluated yourself based on field standards — mission, management, staff, programs and collections, but the field is not funding you.You are asking institutions to fund you, so evaluate your readiness from their point of view:

• Do you do something important?
• Do you do it well?
• Do you do it for anyone in particular?
• Can you do it again, or help anyone else do it again?
• Is your organization a safe investment? A wise investment?
• Are you a good partner?
• What kind of edge sets you apart from other organizations and their projects?

For a downloadable pdf file of the complete Grant-Ready Checklist from the book, click here.

In Is Your Museum Grant-Ready? you may discover that you need to strengthen some aspects before you start applying. Maybe you will find that simply documenting what you do, the need for it, and its quality will be enough to get you ready. Better yet, you may confirm your readiness and can now confidently commit resources to a grants program. But, if you find you're not ready, the recommendations and case studies will help you get there and stay there.

It's a threshold moment when your organization crosses that line between "good" and "fundable." You will feel it one day as a number of successes coincide: the annual appeal surpasses its goal, your attendance grows well for the second year running, and the flagship education program attracts a community service award. That's when you move from asking only friends and family for gifts to approaching other institutions – foundations and agencies.

The first part of that move, though, is rarely proposal writing. Developing an organization and programs that will attract funding comes first. By assessing your organization with the ideas in Is Your Museum Grant-Ready?, you can develop realistic expectations and a plan to get you grant ready.

You can order your copy of Is Your Museum Grant-Ready? directly from AltaMira Press by clicking here.

Here's what a few grant-savvy professionals have to say about Is Your Museum Grant-Ready?:

"If your organization does not yet have a successful grant program, this is a must read book for directors and trustees. It illuminates why foundations give, what they expect from their investment in non-profit organizations, and how they build relationships with institutions. Brophy clearly articulates the steps it takes to get to the point where you can write a successful grant application and backs up her findings with specific case studies from museums across the United States and abroad. I recommend this book not only to museums but to any non-profit (cultural, educational, or social service) that needs to grow to the next level of professionalism in program design and grant writing." — Mara Williams
Partner, Arts Bridge LLC, Vermont and New York, Partner, Arts Bridge LLC, Vermont and New York City, formerly, Director, Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (1989 - 98)

"This book is not just one more guide to grantwriting. It is a handbook for the whole organization to guide it through the process of raising its planning, performance, and systems to a new level: one that will support a strong case for philanthropic support. If your organization has a list of good projects that are struggling with inadequate funding, this book will be an invaluable guide and tool. Sarah Brophy can't do the work for you, but she certainly provides clear and smart guidance along the way." — Laura B. Roberts, Tufts Museum Studies program, Boston University School of Management, and independent management consultant

"Thanks to Sarah Brophy for writing a lucid, thoughtful, and highly accessible book. Is Your Museum Grant-Ready? is an information-packed action manual that brims with solid advice and valuable case studies. Any museum professional who plunges into the daunting waters of grant-seeking without reading it does so at his or her own peril." — Joseph Barbato, co-author, Writing for A Good Cause

Sustainable Museums
Copyright © 2007 bMuse, Sarah S. Brophy