Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry
Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry applies lessons from immersive workshop to daily operations.
The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry invites exploration and inspiration through play for families of all backgrounds. When the museum’s own team members had the chance to look at their strategy through a gamified two-day training—to get inspired through play—they learned fresh ways to best engage their community.
When Simone Davis thinks about her role as a development associate at the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry in Charleston, South Carolina, one statistic comes to mind: Charleston’s population grows by about 38 new residents every day, a number that includes 10 newborn babies.
“Since our mission is to focus on children that are birth to 10 years old, I feel like we have to keep up with the best practices and what would be good for those people,” Davis said. “The world is ever changing, ever evolving, and ever adapting—and we have to hone in on the needs of society.”
The museum invites children of all backgrounds to explore, ignite curiosity, and spark imagination through the power of play. Davis and her colleague, development associate Kayla Sewell, play a critical role in developing donor and member relationships and coordinating programs that help to achieve that mission.
The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry partners with Blackbaud for its fundraising and relationship management solution to increase ticket sales and turn visitors into members and donors. Both Davis and Sewell rely on professional development opportunities through Blackbaud to stay current on trends about how best to engage their community and reach their goals.
“I think it’s important to participate in the best practices classes from Blackbaud University, because they specifically address how Blackbaud software can help nonprofits and museums answer real-world questions and challenges that they’re facing in their day-to-day operations,” Sewell said.
An Immersive Experience
The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry team participated in a Blackbaud immersive best practices course on donor acquisition and retention, which included two days of onsite instruction and a gamified experience. The workshop tackled building a fictitious social good organization from the ground up and, in doing so, provided a fresh look at the museum’s operations—and how to maximize benefits from its fundraising and relationship management solution.
