I am opening here without a museum reference, but please bear with me. In May 2025, I attended a launch ceremony for graduating seniors of the Arlington, Virginia, Affordable Homes and Communities (AHC) non-profit organization. Through AHC advocacy, these students from difficult backgrounds were attending university, often the first in their families. Fortunately, AHC relies mostly on nonfederal funding sources, so their essential mission to provide fair housing and promote education, will remain intact.

But what if your museum was hoping for, or had received a grant that evaporated by executive order? Having worked with the challenges of grants and funding as a museum anthropologist for four decades, I would like to share some thoughts on this disquieting situation. Here are some actions, especially for leaders of smaller, less hierarchical institutions, that could result in helpful outcomes, but there may be a nugget for the large, multi-departmental intuitions as well. First:

1. The American Alliance of Museum (AAM) provides updates on grant loss. Particularly useful is the post, “Grant Terminations, Appeals and Other Activities.” They emphasize appealing the termination with the declining agency, filing the termination appeal with the government and informing AAM about it, reviewing the advice of the National Council of Nonprofits and the law firm Holland and Knight, and contacting government officials on every level.
2. Set new goals. Identify the most important outcomes for your defunct grant. Were they to inspire a community? Make new connections? Bring people together to celebrate an event or mark a historic moment? Impart valuable insight on history, anthropology, and/or biology, and elements connecting them all? Or something else?

   Rewrite your grant statement to reflect your core intent and your goals, for your own purposes, not to resubmit. Next:

3. Formulate a new plan. Strive to ensure that your organization can achieve your revised grant statement goals, with the decision-making process including leadership, staff, and your board. Emphasize the creativity required to realize your vision. Focus on inspiration and optimism rather than disappointment. All those involved in the museum need to know how they can work to achieve the desired outcome effectively, economically, and efficiently.

Write a business plan to go forward, including staffing, operating costs, and budget, presenting realistic expenses and income stream. Then mobilize:

4. Seek alternative funding. Using your plan; identify private grants and foundations, and publicize your message. Write op-eds, use the local TV and radio stations, speak before civic groups such as Rotarians, contact your local government, libraries, (possibly offering free use of the Foundation Directory), schools and businesses. Find specific sponsors for your new plan, for example, funding one case for an exhibition, or one event of a special program. Hold fund raisers.

   Make your potential audience and visitors want what only you can provide; make them understand their loss without your work. Now, energize:

5. Reinvent and recycle. If a full-scale “bricks and mortar” anthropology-oriented exhibition seems thwarted, can you restyle it for on line viewing? If you would like a tangible product, can you locate used museum fixtures to save funds? Can art schools provide graphics and design? Can photos of objects or replace actual pieces? (Some say museum-goers will not pay attention to replicas, but I found in our Great Seal of the United State exhibit for the US Department of State, that replicas, if well placed, do, indeed, capture attention and communicate ideas.) Can you make one piece tell a story with dramatic lighting and accompanying photos instead of multiple artifacts?

If you want to sponsor an event or public program, can you change the venue; maximize the input of volunteers; rethink how a new approach could bring the expenditures down? For example, if you want decorative flowers, can wedding planners help to obtain them after the ceremony for a free or a lower cost?

If you were planning an archeological dig or research project, can you team up with another organization, university, or business interest to share costs? Can you break your scope down, focusing on one aspect of your proposal? Can volunteers reasonably augment implementation?

Evaluate the cost of every aspect and devise a way to lower it. Lastly:

6. Advocate. While revising and rethinking, be sure to write to Senators and Congressmen on the federal and state levels. Meet with them if possible. Participate in advocacy days, for example those sponsored by the American Alliance of Museums. (AAM) Follow the Dispatches from the Future of Museums, an AAM blog, a great source for practical resources and strengthening resolve.

Create strong, punchy explanations of your goals and achievements; the ultimate elevator pitch for a major, long-lasting cause. Taking these steps, you will:

Claim your agency, stimulate your commitment, find renewed purpose, and test your creativity. There will be setbacks and discouragement. Maybe even an inability to achieve aspirations fully meaningful to you, but by going forward this way, you will learn, make new contacts and networks, and feel as if you did your utmost to perform as a valued museum anthropologist in trying times.

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