Giving Back to Our Community - The Children's Museum of ...

ANNUAL REPORT 2006 THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF INDIANAPOLIS
28
EVENTS AND RENTALS
The Events Department had another outstanding year in
2006, with rental attendance climbing 19 percent over
2005 and generating $22,000 over plan. Fueled by a
large number of repeat clients, the sales staff closed the
year with most of their 2007 sales goals already represented
by advance bookings.
The bi-annual Event Showcase in April highlighted
Fireworks of Glass to attract event and meeting planners
to the facility. Designed to display the museum’s event
execution and catering capabilities, each floor of the
building was dressed to show off the variety of possibilities
available to clients of all sizes and needs. As weddings
grew as a percentage of this clientele, revamped
sales kits and menus were developed to better address
their needs.
The birthday party program rebounded after restructuring,
resulting in 120 percent attendance growth over
2005 and over $29,000 in incremental revenue.
Collaboration with marketing and The Children’s
Museum Store created Birthday Party Gift Registry
options, and new party themes were created to tie into
Frontier Presents Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame
Street? and Bob the Builder — Project: Build It.
MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Outstanding media coverage of museum exhibits, events
and activities continued to buoy the resources allocated
to drive visitation and membership. Audience research
demonstrated the effectiveness of the 2006 marketing
campaigns for Fireworks of Glass, Playdate Destination
and Dinosphere®, supporting paid attendance and
membership revenue gains.
More than 258,291,370 people around the world heard
or read about exhibits and events at the museum in
2006.The museum garnered local, national and international
attention with media outlets such as ABC News,
NBC News, CBS News, Discovery Channel, The New York
Times, USA Today and The London Times.
The Children’s Museum was featured in Forbes
Magazine’s television show broadcast of the Top 10
Best Places to Live and Work on the Fine Living cable
network, distributed to over 40 million homes.
Indianapolis placed 10th on the list and featured on
the show was an interview with Jeff Patchen and coverage
of Fireworks of Glass.
▼
The Gala of Glitter and Glass, presented by Chubb
Group of Insurance Companies, celebrated the
opening of Fireworks of Glass.
Giving Back to Our Community
Meeting Financial Goals and Investing for the Future
With oversight from the Finance and Investment
Committees of the museum’s Board of Trustees, The
Children’s Museum continues to provide strong fiscal
oversight of the organization’s annual budget and
endowment. In 2006, the museum’s endowment growth
was 11 percent.The net change in endowment was 6.4
percent over 2005, reaching a record high of
$281,138,000 at year-end. The operating budget ended
the year with a surplus of $314,350 — returning
$300,000 to the endowment to support The Power of
Children Campaign.
Under the leadership of a new department Vice
President, the Development Department garnered
increased contribution income in the categories of corporate
donations and foundation support.
The Children’s Museum was selected to benefit from the
Tiffany & Co. exclusive Keys for a Cause fundraiser in
September. Special guests were invited to purchase keys
to unlock cases filled with Tiffany treasures, including fine
jewelry, watches, silver and crystal, with the proceeds
from the purchase of the keys benefiting the museum.
This unique partnership generated $6,400 to support the
museum’s annual fund.
Fundraising for The Power of Children Campaign in 2006
generated an additional $3.5 million. These gifts
included $1 million from Deborah Simon; $275,000 from
the National Endowment for the Humanities; and
$250,000 from the Duke Energy Foundation to support
The Power of Children Exhibit. The Ruth Lilly
Philanthropy Fund provided $500,000 to support Global
Perspectives; and $500,000 from the Allen Whitehall
Clowes Charitable Foundation in support of the Phase II
Master Campus Plan. Additional gifts received for special
projects included $520,000 from Health Care Excel for
Health House and $500,000 from Dow AgroSciences in
support of SciencePort.
▼
Starbucks employees help plant flowers with participants
in the StarPoint Summer Camp, a camp
that serves children from the neighborhoods surrounding
the museum.
ANNUAL REPORT 2006 THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF INDIANAPOLIS
29