How we designed the business plans and management model for four museums housed in heritage buildings: a shared framework for governance, revenue generation, and sustainability, tailored to each museum while remaining scalable across the entire network.
Four publicly owned museums, housed in historic buildings at the heart of a heritage city, safeguarded collections of exceptional cultural value. They also attracted a significant number of cultural and tourist visitors. What they lacked was a management model and a sustainability framework capable of supporting day-to-day operations while guiding decision-making in the short, medium, and long term.
The starting point was a group of institutions with distinct identities and subject areas, all operating within the constraints of public administration. They relied heavily on public funding, lacked clear governance structures, had no defined commercial strategy for their spaces, and did not have a structured approach to fundraising.
The challenge was considerable. The project had to respect both the legal framework governing public institutions and the unique identity of each museum. It also required coordinating a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders, including foundations, volunteer groups, friends’ associations, and sector organizations. Equally important was learning from a previous management model that had never been implemented, ensuring that its shortcomings would not be repeated.
The strategic opportunity was to transform this valuable cultural heritage and steady visitor flow into a viable and transparent operating model. Designed to remain faithful to each museum’s mission, the framework could also be replicated across the wider museum network. Rather than producing another report, the objective was to create a practical tool for decision-making and long-term sustainability.
“A museum is sustained not only by the value of what it preserves, but by the model that enables it to thrive without compromising its mission.”
The project was structured into consecutive phases: assessment and diagnosis, management model and business planning, and stakeholder engagement. This approach allowed us to move from a detailed understanding of each museum to an actionable proposal, validated with the institution at every stage.
The diagnostic phase began with a comprehensive review of each museum’s organizational structure, operational processes, and legal framework. This was complemented by market research and a stakeholder mapping exercise to identify all relevant actors and clarify their respective roles. A key part of the process involved reviewing a management model that had been developed years earlier but was never implemented. Understanding why it failed became the foundation for designing a model that could succeed.
“Applying the same analytical framework across all four museums allowed them to be managed as a unified system without sacrificing the identity of each institution.”
At the same time, we carried out a benchmarking study of leading national and international museums. Successful examples were selected to compare governance models, revenue streams, technology adoption, and the sector’s response to evolving challenges. Every design decision was informed by evidence rather than assumptions.
Building on these insights, we developed the core of the project using a common analytical framework applied consistently across all four museums. The analysis covered governance, organizational structure, staffing profiles, programming, community engagement, retail strategy, partnerships, fundraising, financial viability, and performance monitoring. This shared framework transformed four distinct institutions into a coherent and comparable management system.
The outcome was a tailored management model and business plan for each museum, providing a level of operational detail that had not previously existed. Each plan clearly defined what needed to be done, who was responsible, how activities would be funded, and how success would be measured.
For each museum, the business plan establishes its governance model and organizational structure, the required staffing profiles, the programme of exhibitions, educational activities, and community engagement initiatives, as well as the commercial strategy for its spaces. This includes the museum shop and merchandise concepts aligned with each collection. The plans also define institutional partnerships that enable collaboration with external organizations while preserving operational control. On this foundation, a diversified financial model was developed, combining ticket sales, venue hire, retail, sponsorships, and donations within a transparent framework for managing resources.
The model is both scalable and replicable. It is designed to be extended across the wider museum network while allowing for the specific needs of each institution. It also incorporates monitoring and evaluation tools, an assessment of the national museum network with recommendations for improvement, and a stakeholder engagement plan to ensure successful implementation.
“A management model is only effective when the people responsible for implementing it recognize it as their own. That is why we designed it to be used, not archived.”
Beyond the business plans themselves, the project delivered a lasting institutional asset: a rigorous assessment of each museum, a set of validated reference models, and a replicable governance framework. Together, these provide a methodology for professionalising museum management and strengthening the long-term sustainability of the entire museum network.
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