Children's Museum of Richmond

The Children's Museum of Richmond has a number of strategies it has implemented to meet its goals. 1) CM merged with Commonwealth Parenting to provide important information on parenting. Commonwealth Parenting offers free parenting classes to under-resourced families, speaking engagements from renowned childhood development experts, and demonstrations free of charge in the museum facility. 2) CM took charge of the Children's Museum Book Bank. The book bank hands out new and like-new books to under-resourced children. They are delivered directly to children at school and given out to all scholarship field trips. 3) CM began the Junior Intern Program to introduce high school students to the importance of philanthropy. Junior Interns are given a college scholarship after completing volunteer hours as well as attending training sessions on non-profits. 4) CM provides scholarship memberships as well as scholarship field trips so all children have a chance to learn through play. CM has strong partnerships with local community partners and schools to help distribute the available services. 5) CM has created a mobile app with the Carmax Foundation to help prepare children' for kindergarten. In addition, CM hosts a kindergarten readiness program for local preschools as well as a kindergarten kick off event. 6) CM provides exhibits which are designed to encourage learning in unconventional ways.

The Children's Museum of Richmond has a number of deep partnerships which will help the museum meet its long term goals. The museum created an Education Advisory council made up of education experts as well as local superintendents to advise the Children's Museum of Richmond. The museum works with community partners like the YWCA, Peter Paul Development Center, Partnership for Families, and The Sacred Heart Center. The Children's Museum of Richmond is partnered with Venture Richmond for the folk festival and helps with many other local attractions. The museum operates on a $4 million budget with 68% of its income coming from earned revenue and the remaining 32% contributed. The museum has a full time staff of 30 and a part time staff of 50. Staff is trained to interact with children and guests. Key staff members include: President and CEO Shannon L. Venable, Chief Operating Officer Meredith Harris, and Chief Financial Officer Salina Scioscia. The Children's Museum of Richmond has four locations in Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico, and Fredericksburg. By expanding the number of locations, the museum has been able to serve even more children in Virginia.

The Children's Museum of Richmond uses a number of quantitative and qualitative measures to determine its success in the community. The Children's Museum of Richmond tracks the number of visitors who attend any of the museum's four locations and any of the museum's offsite events. In addition, the museum tracks the number of books given to under-resourced children as well as all scholarship visits. In order to make sure the Children's Museum of Richmond is consistently providing exceptional educational benefits to children, the museum regularly has professional educators answer surveys critiquing museum exhibits and programming. The museum also uses pre and post tests for some of its programming to ensure all its programming is effective.

The Children's Museum of Richmond has made great progress toward reaching our goals. 37% of the museum's field trip guests came at a free or reduced rate. The Children's Museum Book Bank has increased the number of books distributed each year. At the current rate of distribution, the museum hopes to deliver over 35,000 books this year.