The Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative: The Evolution of a Statewide Model
By Todd Boyette and Mark Sinclair
It’s “Museum Day” at the North Carolina Legislature’s office building in Raleigh. Our team arrives early, unloads boxes of marketing
materials, and moves quickly to set up display tables inside the main entrance. Scanning the legislative schedule, we discuss the best
times to visit with state senators and representatives, then break up in pairs to begin the work of lobbying for museum funding.
Scenes like this occur in state capitals across the United States each year as science centers and museums seek operating funds
from the elected officials who control state budgets. What makes our team unique is that we are not just a group of staff and
volunteers seeking funding for a single museum. Instead, we are the directors of 18 North Carolina science museums, and our
mission is to boost science education statewide by obtaining support for a joint enterprise—the Grassroots Science Museums
Collaborative (GSMC).
From humble beginnings
It was at a statewide museum conference in the mid 1980s that a small group of science museum directors, frustrated by a lack of
success in gaining state funding, first met to discuss their concerns. Eight North Carolina museums were represented: Discovery
Place, the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, the North Carolina Museum of
Natural Sciences (NCMNS would later become GSMC’s administrative agency), Rocky Mount Children’s Museum, the Schiele Museum
of Natural History, SciWorks, and the Western North Carolina Nature Center. The group agreed to continue to meet several times a
year and to jointly lobby the state legislature each spring for funding.
It took a few years for the new organization, initially called Grassroots Science Museums, to reach critical mass. One reason was that
several of the larger institutions—those with effective lobbying systems in place—were already receiving state funding earmarked by
local legislators for special projects through NCMNS (then a division of the Department of Agriculture). Reluctant to give up this
income, the large museums only partly supported the collaborative concept at first.
It wasn’t until 1990, when North Carolina’s legislature overhauled its funding process and the Grassroots Science Museums became
the only reliable vehicle for obtaining state support, that all of the members truly got on board. Quickly, we reorganized our previous
informal confederation, renamed it the Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative, elected officers, and began systematic lobbying
efforts. To our annual spring pilgrimages to Raleigh, we added tactics with higher visibility, including the “Museum Day” display in the
legislative office building and an evening reception for legislators. In 1992, GSMC obtained its first funding as a group: $450,000 to
be divided equally among nine museums-—the original seven members plus Catawba Science Center and Imagination Station
(NCMNS, as a state-funded museum, served as the non-funded administrator).
Another key change came in 1993, when NCMNS moved from Agriculture to the Department of Environmental Health and Natural
Resources (DEHNR), taking the museum collaborative with it. The DEHNR administrator saw that a state network of science museums
could further his department’s goals for environmental education. With his backing, GSMC funding doubled in 1994 to $100,000 per
museum.
Legislative support remained subject to year-by-year review, however. In 1995 and 1996, funding was cut back to $50,000 per
museum, spurring GSMC to step up lobbying efforts and push for “full funding” levels of more than $3 million within the state’s
continuation budget. Each GSMC member would receive a pro rata share, based on its operating budget. Crucial to the success of
this plan were two commitments by participating museums: (1) to work together for the good of all members, and (2) to concentrate,
as a group, on serving all areas of the state, assuring each legislator a return on investment in his or her district.
The breakthrough came in 1997, with the awarding of a one-time GSMC grant of $3.25 million. Although the legislators cut funding
slightly in 1998, in 1999 they not only increased GSMC funding to $3.75 million, but also made the allocation part of the North
Carolina continuation budget through 2001. GSMC members hope this will institutionalize the funding and ensure its stability in future
years.
More than money
Beyond fund-raising, another benefit of the GSMC partnership has been an improved atmosphere of noncompetition and
cooperation. In 1998, museum directors devoted one of their meetings to a topic much in the news: the quality of North Carolina’s
rivers and streams. The result was a statewide water-quality testing project, funded by the North Carolina Board of Science and
Technology and led by four GSMC members. During the 1998-99 school year, staff from Catawba Science Center, Imagination
Station, NCMNS, and SciWorks directed more than 1,300 fifth graders from eight counties as they performed water-quality testing in
local streams and ponds. Statewide results were posted on the NCMNS web site.
GSMC members have also joined forces to address statewide education issues. In 1996, North Carolina schools adopted the ABC’s of
Education, a program that emphasizes the “basics”—reading, writing, and mathematics—for students in grades K-8, ensuring
accountability through standardized testing. By giving great weight to end-of-year tests, the program has had the unintentional effect
of de-emphasizing science teaching at these levels. GSMC is actively working to inform policy makers and the public about the
cutbacks, and has advocated revision of the ABC’s to include elementary and middle school science.
Members are also participating in a new statewide, hands-on math initiative, Mathematics=Easy as Pi, led by the North Carolina
Museum of Life and Science and funded by the National Science Foundation (see ASTC Dimensions, January/February 2001, page
13). As part of the initiative, GSMC members recently participated in a statewide mathematics celebration, Pi Day, and continue to
help with the production of interactive math exhibits, materials, and programs.
Coping with political reality
GSMC is now well recognized within the halls and meeting rooms of the North Carolina Legislature, and that mostly helps our efforts.
But sometimes a legislator’s knowledge of the funding mechanism creates issues that are hard to handle. In GSMC’s third year, a
powerful legislator added her local history museum to the collaborative. The following year, at the request of the State Chair of
Appropriations, a health museum was added.
Fortunately, each of these organizations either possessed or was establishing a science component as part of its mission. Their
directors attend meetings regularly and actively contribute to GSMC’s efforts. But the recent addition by the legislature of a small-town
art gallery has been more problematic. Representatives from this organization have shown no interest in attending collaborative
meetings, and it is questionable whether they will develop a science component in their activities.
The evolution of our membership underlines the political nature of the endeavor. There is little GSMC can do to prevent legislators
from using the collaborative as a pass-through funding mechanism. And even among the science-related nonprofits that have
approached us independently, not all share the core values of our founding members.
Early in 2000, members met to discuss these changes in our growing organization. Everyone acknowledged that GSMC was
becoming too large to be served by participatory democracy. With the legislature retaining control over who could join and receive
funding, our membership policy had to be inclusive. We would continue to lobby for funding for all members. But our governing body,
we felt strongly, should reflect GSMC’s historic focus on informal science education.
We began by establishing three tiers of membership:
* Level I: 501(c)3 or government organizations with a principal focus on science education through exhibits, collections, programs,
and collaborations.
* Level II: Informal science education organizations that do not meet all of the criteria for Level I membership.
* Level III: Organizations funded by the state of North Carolina that have a science mission.
Current Members of North Carolina’s Grassroot Science Museums Collaborative (GSMC)
Our next step was to create a nine-member Board of Directors. Eight of the board members are elected by the total GSMC
membership; the ninth is appointed by NCMNS as the administrating agency. All are CEOs, and, as stipulated in the bylaws, a majority
represent Level I members.
We believe that by establishing an inclusive membership policy, defining membership categories, and creating a strong governing
body, we have broadened the reach of the collaborative while maintaining its integrity as a generator of statewide science
programming and exhibits and as an advocate for informal science education.
Looking to the future
Recently, GSMC took another giant step toward increasing its impact. Previously, statewide collaboration had been limited because
members lacked full-time, permanent personnel to develop new projects and initiatives. In the spring of 2000, the Burroughs-
Wellcome Fund awarded GSMC $1 million to endow an executive director position. Member museums agreed to match the income
from the endowment to support the executive director’s efforts to expand GSMC programs statewide.
In January 2001, we hired Dr. Fran Nolan as our first executive director. Based in Raleigh at NCMNS, directly across the street from
the state legislature, he is currently working with museum members to develop and seek funding for new initiatives in the tradition of
the water-quality testing project and the hands-on math program. As a result, we expect GSMC’s influence to increase dramatically
throughout North Carolina.
Todd Boyette is president and CEO of The Health Adventure, in Asheville, North Carolina, and vice president of the Grassroots Science Museum
Collaborative. Mark Sinclair is executive director of the Catawba Science Center in Hickory, North Carolina, and a past president of GSMC.
By Todd Boyette and Mark Sinclair
It’s “Museum Day” at the North Carolina Legislature’s office building in Raleigh. Our team arrives early, unloads boxes of marketing
materials, and moves quickly to set up display tables inside the main entrance. Scanning the legislative schedule, we discuss the best
times to visit with state senators and representatives, then break up in pairs to begin the work of lobbying for museum funding.
Scenes like this occur in state capitals across the United States each year as science centers and museums seek operating funds
from the elected officials who control state budgets. What makes our team unique is that we are not just a group of staff and
volunteers seeking funding for a single museum. Instead, we are the directors of 18 North Carolina science museums, and our
mission is to boost science education statewide by obtaining support for a joint enterprise—the Grassroots Science Museums
Collaborative (GSMC).
From humble beginnings
It was at a statewide museum conference in the mid 1980s that a small group of science museum directors, frustrated by a lack of
success in gaining state funding, first met to discuss their concerns. Eight North Carolina museums were represented: Discovery
Place, the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, the North Carolina Museum of
Natural Sciences (NCMNS would later become GSMC’s administrative agency), Rocky Mount Children’s Museum, the Schiele Museum
of Natural History, SciWorks, and the Western North Carolina Nature Center. The group agreed to continue to meet several times a
year and to jointly lobby the state legislature each spring for funding.
It took a few years for the new organization, initially called Grassroots Science Museums, to reach critical mass. One reason was that
several of the larger institutions—those with effective lobbying systems in place—were already receiving state funding earmarked by
local legislators for special projects through NCMNS (then a division of the Department of Agriculture). Reluctant to give up this
income, the large museums only partly supported the collaborative concept at first.
It wasn’t until 1990, when North Carolina’s legislature overhauled its funding process and the Grassroots Science Museums became
the only reliable vehicle for obtaining state support, that all of the members truly got on board. Quickly, we reorganized our previous
informal confederation, renamed it the Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative, elected officers, and began systematic lobbying
efforts. To our annual spring pilgrimages to Raleigh, we added tactics with higher visibility, including the “Museum Day” display in the
legislative office building and an evening reception for legislators. In 1992, GSMC obtained its first funding as a group: $450,000 to
be divided equally among nine museums-—the original seven members plus Catawba Science Center and Imagination Station
(NCMNS, as a state-funded museum, served as the non-funded administrator).
Another key change came in 1993, when NCMNS moved from Agriculture to the Department of Environmental Health and Natural
Resources (DEHNR), taking the museum collaborative with it. The DEHNR administrator saw that a state network of science museums
could further his department’s goals for environmental education. With his backing, GSMC funding doubled in 1994 to $100,000 per
museum.
Legislative support remained subject to year-by-year review, however. In 1995 and 1996, funding was cut back to $50,000 per
museum, spurring GSMC to step up lobbying efforts and push for “full funding” levels of more than $3 million within the state’s
continuation budget. Each GSMC member would receive a pro rata share, based on its operating budget. Crucial to the success of
this plan were two commitments by participating museums: (1) to work together for the good of all members, and (2) to concentrate,
as a group, on serving all areas of the state, assuring each legislator a return on investment in his or her district.
The breakthrough came in 1997, with the awarding of a one-time GSMC grant of $3.25 million. Although the legislators cut funding
slightly in 1998, in 1999 they not only increased GSMC funding to $3.75 million, but also made the allocation part of the North
Carolina continuation budget through 2001. GSMC members hope this will institutionalize the funding and ensure its stability in future
years.
More than money
Beyond fund-raising, another benefit of the GSMC partnership has been an improved atmosphere of noncompetition and
cooperation. In 1998, museum directors devoted one of their meetings to a topic much in the news: the quality of North Carolina’s
rivers and streams. The result was a statewide water-quality testing project, funded by the North Carolina Board of Science and
Technology and led by four GSMC members. During the 1998-99 school year, staff from Catawba Science Center, Imagination
Station, NCMNS, and SciWorks directed more than 1,300 fifth graders from eight counties as they performed water-quality testing in
local streams and ponds. Statewide results were posted on the NCMNS web site.
GSMC members have also joined forces to address statewide education issues. In 1996, North Carolina schools adopted the ABC’s of
Education, a program that emphasizes the “basics”—reading, writing, and mathematics—for students in grades K-8, ensuring
accountability through standardized testing. By giving great weight to end-of-year tests, the program has had the unintentional effect
of de-emphasizing science teaching at these levels. GSMC is actively working to inform policy makers and the public about the
cutbacks, and has advocated revision of the ABC’s to include elementary and middle school science.
Members are also participating in a new statewide, hands-on math initiative, Mathematics=Easy as Pi, led by the North Carolina
Museum of Life and Science and funded by the National Science Foundation (see ASTC Dimensions, January/February 2001, page
13). As part of the initiative, GSMC members recently participated in a statewide mathematics celebration, Pi Day, and continue to
help with the production of interactive math exhibits, materials, and programs.
Coping with political reality
GSMC is now well recognized within the halls and meeting rooms of the North Carolina Legislature, and that mostly helps our efforts.
But sometimes a legislator’s knowledge of the funding mechanism creates issues that are hard to handle. In GSMC’s third year, a
powerful legislator added her local history museum to the collaborative. The following year, at the request of the State Chair of
Appropriations, a health museum was added.
Fortunately, each of these organizations either possessed or was establishing a science component as part of its mission. Their
directors attend meetings regularly and actively contribute to GSMC’s efforts. But the recent addition by the legislature of a small-town
art gallery has been more problematic. Representatives from this organization have shown no interest in attending collaborative
meetings, and it is questionable whether they will develop a science component in their activities.
The evolution of our membership underlines the political nature of the endeavor. There is little GSMC can do to prevent legislators
from using the collaborative as a pass-through funding mechanism. And even among the science-related nonprofits that have
approached us independently, not all share the core values of our founding members.
Early in 2000, members met to discuss these changes in our growing organization. Everyone acknowledged that GSMC was
becoming too large to be served by participatory democracy. With the legislature retaining control over who could join and receive
funding, our membership policy had to be inclusive. We would continue to lobby for funding for all members. But our governing body,
we felt strongly, should reflect GSMC’s historic focus on informal science education.
We began by establishing three tiers of membership:
* Level I: 501(c)3 or government organizations with a principal focus on science education through exhibits, collections, programs,
and collaborations.
* Level II: Informal science education organizations that do not meet all of the criteria for Level I membership.
* Level III: Organizations funded by the state of North Carolina that have a science mission.
Current Members of North Carolina’s Grassroot Science Museums Collaborative (GSMC)
Our next step was to create a nine-member Board of Directors. Eight of the board members are elected by the total GSMC
membership; the ninth is appointed by NCMNS as the administrating agency. All are CEOs, and, as stipulated in the bylaws, a majority
represent Level I members.
We believe that by establishing an inclusive membership policy, defining membership categories, and creating a strong governing
body, we have broadened the reach of the collaborative while maintaining its integrity as a generator of statewide science
programming and exhibits and as an advocate for informal science education.
Looking to the future
Recently, GSMC took another giant step toward increasing its impact. Previously, statewide collaboration had been limited because
members lacked full-time, permanent personnel to develop new projects and initiatives. In the spring of 2000, the Burroughs-
Wellcome Fund awarded GSMC $1 million to endow an executive director position. Member museums agreed to match the income
from the endowment to support the executive director’s efforts to expand GSMC programs statewide.
In January 2001, we hired Dr. Fran Nolan as our first executive director. Based in Raleigh at NCMNS, directly across the street from
the state legislature, he is currently working with museum members to develop and seek funding for new initiatives in the tradition of
the water-quality testing project and the hands-on math program. As a result, we expect GSMC’s influence to increase dramatically
throughout North Carolina.
Todd Boyette is president and CEO of The Health Adventure, in Asheville, North Carolina, and vice president of the Grassroots Science Museum
Collaborative. Mark Sinclair is executive director of the Catawba Science Center in Hickory, North Carolina, and a past president of GSMC.
North Carolina Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative Dr. Fran Nolan, Executive Director c/o North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences 11 West Jones Street Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-1029 919.733.7450 Extension 260 |
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