News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian house. Parent comment

Re:Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian ... by bluGill on Monday November 16, 2020 @08:28AM (#25111353)
The only way to get enough funds is fund raisers. Spending 40% of their money on fund raisers looks wasteful, but if they didn't spend that much on fund raising the total amount they would have to spend on the useful work they do would be much less. That is also why the board and CEO positions are really pay to play: the board of these places are all people who are big donors, and the CEO is chosen by the connections she has to people who will donate big dollars.

You must admit people who have the kind of money to throw around to buy a board seat probably have some business success as well as interest in the subject, so it isn't all bad. It gets people who care and are good.

That is the alternative view of the situation. There is some real merit, but I'm not sure how much I believe it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stolen irreplaceable books found under floor of Romanian ... by fakedang on Monday November 16, 2020 @03:44PM (#25116772)
I wouldn't mind a 40% expenditure on fundraisers - heck, normal public companies spend 25-45% on marketing alone right?

The issue comes when many of these places have spent close to 60-70% of the budget, sometimes more, on fundraisers. Not to mention, the younger moneyed crowd these days (the 35-50s demographic) has in no way been enticed to donate by these museums, unless they were part of pre-built networks.

[ Parent | on HN ]