In her seven years with the Door County Maritime Museum, Melissa Scoon has seen the organization through a number of challenges, starting with significant discrepancies in its financial systems that were discovered just prior to her arrival in 2017. “At a small nonprofit with an annual budget around $800,000, this was a serious and significant challenge to fix,” Scoon says.
Scoon added new procedures and policies, trained museum staff, and self-audited the internal processes. “New museum policies, procedures and accountability are now part of the organization’s culture,” she says.
Scoon also managed the financial reporting for a $9.2 million expansion campaign for the museum, including state and federal grants.
COVID-19 shuttered the museum for nine weeks during what would have been a busy tourism season, Scoon says. Along with the museum’s deputy director, Scoon pursued state and federal emergency funding resources. “That team effort was a critical part of keeping every full-time staff member employed, and the museum open, throughout the pandemic,” she says.
Today the museum’s annual operating budget has grown to nearly $1.5 million, with store sales nearly doubling to $400,000 annually.
