Wendy Lull, president of the Seacoast Science Center (SSC), fa.docx

Wendy Lull, president of the Seacoast Science Center (SSC),
faced her long-time friend and former board member, Rose
Wood, across her office desk. Since Rose had moved to South
Carolina, she had become an infrequent vis-
itor to the center, but had come on this frosty February morning
in 2008 to see the new
Learning Studio and other recent changes. Wendy was happy to
show off the SSC and
talk about what had happened since it became independent in
2001. However, she
noted, some things had not changed.
Rose asked, “Have you solved the ‘$50,000 problem’ yet? Have
you found a way for
your income to cover all your expenses?”
Wendy sighed: “Depending on how you look at where we are
right now, it’s not clear
that we’ve solved the ‘$50,000 problem.’ We used to think that
revenue from programs
covered 80 percent of our costs. I think that was a myth. I don’t
think we ever really did
it. What worries me is that we’re depending on the
unpredictable, grants and bequests,
to balance the budget.” She felt it would be more fiscally sound,
and more comfortable
for her as president, if the SSC could find a way to cover
expenses out of operating
income, rather than running operating deficits which were
seldom less than $50,000.
Rose asked, “Have you thought about raising the admissions

fee? It’s only $3.”
Wendy looked challengingly at her visitor. “I’d like to see it go
to $5, or even $7,”
she said. “Would that impact the number of visitors? Maybe, but
that’s not necessarily
a bad thing. And what else have we got?”
THE SEACOAST SCIENCE CENTER’S EARLY YEARS
Located in Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, New Hampshire,
the Seacoast Science
Center served both as the visitor’s center for the park and as an
educational center for
the local environment. Odiorne Point was the site of New
Hampshire’s first permanent
European settlement in 1623. Fishermen set out from its shores
to fish the Gulf of
Maine and the Atlantic Ocean, primarily for cod, while farmers
took advantage of the
fields, marshes, and inland fresh water. The nearby rivers
effectively served as roads to
connect residents of the point with the nearby towns of
Strawbery Banke (later
Portsmouth) and Dover, New Hampshire.
Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 1
Seacoast Science Center:
Sailing the Shoals1
Margaret J. Naumes, University of New Hampshire
Wendy W. Lull, Seacoast Science Center
Copyright © 2012 by the Case Research Journal and by
Margaret J. Naumes and Wendy W. Lull. This

case study was prepared as the basis for class discussion rather
than to illustrate either effective or inef-
fective handling of an administrative situation. An earlier
version of the case was presented at the 2008
Annual Meeting of the North American Case Research
Association in Durham, New Hampshire.
NA0196
2 Case Research Journal • Volume 32 • Issue 1 • Winter
2012
Exhibit 1 Odiorne Point State Park Trail and Habitat Map
Source: Seacoast Science Center.
By the late 1800s, Odiorne Point’s scenic location on the edge
of the ocean led to
the building of luxurious summer homes. During World War II,
the U.S. Government
acquired most of the Point, building Fort Dearborn for coastal
defense. The land was
turned over to the State of New Hampshire in 1963 to serve as a
state park (see Exhibit
1 for a map of Odiorne Point State Park). Recognizing the
unique nature of the site,
with seven distinct natural habitats, the Audubon Society of
New Hampshire (ASNH)
had begun offering nature programs in 1973 in cooperation with
the New Hampshire

Division of Parks and Recreation (Parks). In 1977, the ASNH
programs moved to
Sugden house, an old stone summer home located by the shore.
The University of New
Hampshire (UNH) provided a full time director for the visitor’s
center, overseeing a rap-
idly increasing number of visitors and school groups.
In 1987, UNH received the first formal contract from Parks to
manage the seasonal
visitor’s center. ASNH and the volunteer community group, The
Friends of Odiorne
Point, joined Parks and UNH as part of a Leadership
Committee. The committee had
no formal standing or authority, but the four sponsoring
organizations agreed to follow
its recommendations. In response to the growing number of
visitors, the New
Hampshire State Legislature created a $400,000 matching
challenge grant for a year-
round visitor’s center; the Leadership Committee raised an
additional $1.2 million for
the new construction. The original Sugden House formed the
core of the building; the
former porches facing the ocean and on the sides were
permanently enclosed. A new
open room behind the house held exhibits of the different park
habitats, including a tide
pool touch tank, a 1,000 gallon Gulf of Maine tank with oceanic
fish, and tanks with
creatures from the ponds and meadows. The room also held a
nature store and served
as the center’s entryway. At the rear were offices (see Exhibit
2). The facility, subse-
quently named the Seacoast Science Center, opened in January
1992 with ASNH as the

managing sponsor, Parks as the facility’s owner, and the
Leadership Committee, now
renamed the Advisory Committee, as the governing body.
Wendy Lull, director of the
visitor’s center, was its first employee. Sixty-five thousand
people visited the new center
in its first year.
By 1999, the number of visitors had grown to 100,000, and the
facility was running
out of space. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)
had provided a grant of $450,000 to develop a new exhibit on
aquaculture as well as the
educational curriculum to accompany it. Office space expanded
into a trailer in the rear
parking lot. The Department of Parks and Recreation had
commissioned a master plan
that would include not only the science center but also the
recreational, environmental,
and historic aspects of the park, under a unified management
contract. The ensuing dis-
cussions among the Advisory Committee members and within
both the SSC and
ASNH led to the establishment of Seacoast Science Center, Inc.,
an independent 501c3
nonprofit organization, which took over the management
contract for the visitor’s cen-
ter in November 2001. In 2001, a NOAA grant provided $1
million to renovate and
expand the facility, with an additional $300,000 to develop
additional exhibits. In
2002, the Friends of Odiorne Point State Park, Inc., was merged
into SSC.
The most recent expansion—a state of the art multimedia

learning center complete
with its own broadcast studio—had been launched in 2005 with
a $1 million grant
from NOAA and grants from the Little Harbor Charitable
Foundation and IBM
Corporation. The Gregg Interactive Learning Studio, named for
Judd Gregg, former
Governor and Senior Senator from New Hampshire, opened in
June 2007, with a live
virtual tour of the Mt. Washington (NH) observatory and
Aquarius, an underwater lab-
oratory in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The
Senator said, “This is an
2012
Exhibit 2
SSC from the water. Sugden House is visible on the left side of
the building. This photo was taken before the
addition of the Learning Studio.
The touch tank.
example of taxpayers’ money being put to good use. The legacy
of every dollar is that
future generations are going to learn about our environment.”2
SSC president Wendy
Lull echoed this sentiment in her remarks: “Our innovative
educational programs will
engage our imaginations to excite us about nature, to touch our

inner spirits and in so
doing inspire a true spirit of environmental stewardship”3 (see
Exhibit 3 for pictures of
the Learning Studio).
EXHIBITS AND PROGRAMS
To create connections to nature through personal experience.
SSC Mission
From its initial focus on interpreting the local seacoast
environment, the SSC’s pro-
gramming had expanded to include regional and global issues
relating to the sea: “The
Center’s exhibitions interpret four themes: the Gulf of Maine,
New Hampshire’s
Coastal Connection, Changes to the Sea and Sky, and working
Under the Sea.”4
Underlying all four was the goal of helping visitors to “attain a
sense of the natural his-
tory of the park’s seven habitats and how people have interacted
with them.”5 Exhibits
and programs related to all seven of the habitats: Gulf of Maine,
rocky shore, wood-
lands, salt pond, freshwater pond, sandy beach, and salt marsh.
As staff aquarist Steve
Engstrom pointed out, this emphasis was important: “For the
most part, we keep and
show local species as teaching tools. . . . That’s what separates
us from large aquariums
that deal with tropical environments and animals from all over.
We showcase what’s
right here in our backyard.”6
Exhibits
The central gallery stretched from the entrance to huge windows

with a view of the
rocky shore, the Gulf of Maine, three lighthouses, and the Isles
of Shoals, which were
seven miles offshore, but on a clear day appeared close enough
to swim to. A display in
the gallery held a relief map of the Gulf and its currents. At the
other end of the gallery,
near the windows, was the Tidepool Touch Tank, with starfish,
hermit crabs, mussels,
and other examples of creatures that could be found in the rocky
pools just outside. In
the exhibit hall to the left of the gallery were tanks representing
various water habitats.
A new large Off Shore tank held a naturally blue lobster and
awaited other deep water
denizens. The Sub Tidal Tank held several species of fish as
well as anemones, urchins,
and starfish. Other tanks displayed marsh and fresh pond
creatures. One featured a bright
orange sea raven, an exotic fish from a warmer climate that had
ridden the ocean currents
to the Gulf of Maine. Another showed tiny flounders in a tank
whose floor was covered
with light and dark sand; as the fish moved from one part of the
tank to another, fasci-
nated visitors could watch them turn lighter or darker in
camouflage.
In the galleries enclosing Sugden House were a series of
additional exhibits.
Visitors could check temperature and other data from off-shore
buoys as part of the
Seasons of the Sea exhibit. In the north gallery, overlooking the
water where the
Piscataqua River entered the Gulf of Maine, was The Great Bay
to the Sea, an inter-

active exhibit where, “using state-of-the-art mathematical
models and computer ani-
mation you can watch your water droplet move through the
estuary and river.”7 Todd
Kent, director of special projects, explained: “The exhibit is a
new application for
both the water flow research and computer model. The data is of
scientific interest,
2012
Exhibit 3
SSC front entrance, from the parking lot. The left side of the
building is the Learning Studio.
The Learning Studio. The left screen is showing a video; the
middle screen is showing a PowerPoint presen-
tation. Below the center screen is a lab table with built-in
cameras.
of course, but also has many applications for municipalities that
are trying to manage
discharges and water quality. This exhibit is the first time the
science and modeling
have been combined for public education and fun!”8
In the gallery closest to the water was an exhibit on Working
Under the Sea. Its most

visually arresting feature was a leaded-boot dive suit, weighing
nearly 200 lbs., that was
the state of the art for diving equipment during WWII. Here one
could also learn about
the first underwater human habitat and the sinking of the
submarine “Squalus.” Nearby,
visitors could take a virtual trip underwater up the Piscataqua
River or out into the ocean.
Interactions between humans and the environment were also on
display in an exhibit
about Sugden House and the changing landscape of Odiorne
Point, and another show-
ing the wreck and gradual recent revealing of an 1890s
shipwreck on a nearby beach.
Programs
SSC programs were designed to allow visitors to interact with
nature and the local habi-
tats. Visitors came from a variety of sources. Some were SSC
members, returning repeat-
edly for new programs or simply to visit the various sea
creatures. Others were visitors
to the state park who were curious about this interpretive
facility. During the week,
many young people came with school groups, or attended
summer camps and school
vacation programs. During the summer, there were daily
programs for the public in
addition to the camps. During the winter, the facility was only
open to the public on
weekends with a few weekday programs by reservation,
although SSC members could
call ahead to visit any time. See Exhibit 4 for the calendar of
events for January 2008.
Programs were led by a mix of staff and trained volunteers. See

Exhibit 5 for SSC’s
organization chart.
Educational programs were available for all ages from
kindergarten through high
school. SSC staff designed the programs to be consistent with
state and national curricu-
lum standards. Many of the programs also had as a goal
increasing ocean literacy, “which
is defined as understanding the influence oceans have on
people, and the influence peo-
ple have on oceans.”9 Field programs about the rocky shore,
salt marsh ecology, and geol-
ogy took students outside using the grounds of the Science
Center and the park. Other
programs, from “A Whale’s Tale” and “Adaptations and
Classification” through “Love
and Life Cycles,” involved hands-on learning, adapted to the
students’ level. The one
hour programs were available for classes of up to twenty-five
students. They cost
$130/hour, slightly more for the field programs. In the spring
and fall, the SSC offered
six-week preschool programs “for a child and their favorite
adult to explore nature
together.” Monthly programs for home schoolers were also
available, and it was possi-
ble to schedule children’s birthday parties.
The newest on-site program was “GeoAdventures, Assignment:
Gulf of Maine.” It
had been designed for the new Gregg Learning Studio, and made
use of the studio’s
high-definition projectors with ten-foot screens and Dolby
surround sound. According
to the program’s description, “During this multi-media,

interactive experience students
will ‘join’ teens on a quest to find hidden geocaches. Students
are prompted to engage
at activities at touch-screen computer stations. Through this
experience, students learn
that everything in the environment is interconnected; that our
lives influence the oceans
and the oceans influence our lives.”10 Teachers received
supplemental materials to build
on the experience in different areas including watersheds,
lobstering, and global posi-
tioning. The hour-long GeoAdventures program cost $200 per
group.
2012
Exhibit 4 January 2008
Source: Seacoast Science Center website.
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3 4 5
10:00 am:
Visitor Programs:
Underwater Exploration
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of

Maine
6
10:00 am:
Visitor Programs:
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine
7
10:00 am:
Snug as a Bug!
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf
of Maine
8 9
10:30 am:
Global Warming
Discussion Course
10 11 12
10:00 am:
Visitor Programs:
2:00 pm:

GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine
13
10:00 am:
VIsitor Programs:
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine
14
10:00 am:
Snug as a Bug!
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf
of Maine
15 16
10:30 am:
Global Warming
Discussion Course
9:00 am:
Book and
Breakfast:
Entanglements . . .

9:30 am:
CANCELLED
Nature Sketching
Workshop
17
10:00 am:
CANCELLED
Nature’s Cures
18 19
10:00 am:
Visitor Programs:
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine
20
10:00 am:
VIsitor Programs:
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine
2:30 pm:
Odiorne Point: Twice-
Seen Photo Exhibit

Opening
21
10:00 am:
Snug as a Bug!
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf
of Maine
22 23
10:30 am:
Global Warming
Discussion Course
24
Heritage Dinner:
ClimateChange:
Cities and Towns
Leading the Way
25 26
10:00 am:
Visitor Programs:
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine

6:00 pm:
Marine Teen Game-O-
Rama
27
10:00 am:
Visitor Programs:
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf of
Maine
28
10:00 am:
Snug as a Bug!
2:00 pm:
GeoAdventures,
Assignment: Gulf
of Maine
29 30
23
10:30 am:
Global Warming
Discussion Course
31

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The SSC also provided distance learning programs. Three hour-
long programs were
offered at $150 per broadcast: The American Lobster,
Horseshoe Crab Program, and
Coastal Creature Adaptations. These programs were broadcast
live from the Learning
Studio to the participating schools. The video conferencing
capability also enabled
teachers to offer pre- or post-visit activities. It was possible to
customize any program at
an additional cost.11
During the summer and school vacations, including between
Christmas and New
Year’s Day, there were a variety of camp programs. Summer
programs were week-long
and were led by seasonal camp staff. The vacation camps in
December, February,
March, and April offered individual daily programs, although
many children came for
the entire week. Week-long camps were $200/week, with a $25
discount for SSC mem-
bers; a single day at vacation camp was $40, with a $5 discount
for members.
Wendy smiled as she talked to Rose about the role of SSC’s
personnel:
People always comment about how engaged our staff is, how
wonderful they are. Each
one of them takes what we call “donut duty”—we all do visitor
programs, we’re out there,
you’re teaching people, you’re interacting with them. No one
comes to this building who
is not talked to two or three times and not just to say “Look

over there.” [Rather] “Do you
want me to talk to you more about the animals?” I spent an hour
talking to a family of
four about plate tectonics. . . . Where else do you go where you
can have that much time
with a naturalist, that intense personal experience? . . . We
always try to make personal
connections.
Staff and volunteer naturalists led a variety of free programs for
visitors. During the
winter, these programs were on weekends only, while during the
summer, the offerings
were at least daily. “Tidepool Treasures” was the most popular
of all programs, taking
people outside for a first-hand experience. Exhibit interpreters
offered other programs
such as “Working On and Under the Sea” and “Coastal
Connections.” GeoAdventures
introduced the Learning Studio to the public. A live broadcast
from Monterey Bay,
California, was also scheduled for the studio.
On occasion, the SSC took its programs to the general public. In
August 2007, Fox
Run Mall, the largest local shopping area, sponsored a day of
lobster and rocky shore
programs. Rose had not heard about this event, and Wendy
pointed out its advantages:
Having informal science activities during the back-to-school
shopping season helps them
add an educational (but fun) component to their promotion. It
helps us reach people
who are not predisposed towards learning about nature. National
Science Foundation

studies indicate that people are more open to science in
informal settings such as muse-
ums and libraries than in schools. Now we can add a shopping
mall to that list.
Special Events
Seacoast Science Center programs were not just for children.
The Heritage Dinner series
hosted speakers from a variety of disciplines in an after-hours
setting. Topics for
2007–2008 included natural history (life on an undersea
volcano), adventure (the search
for a lost airplane in an Alaskan lake), the environment (cities’
and towns’ efforts to
reduce global warming), and the arts (the story behind filming a
television documentary
on the nearby Isles of Shoals). Individuals, families, and groups
took part in BioBlitz!, a
one-day survey of the flora and fauna of Odiorne Point State
Park, in September; not
only were they gathering scientific data on the park’s habitats
but they were also able to
interact with scientists classifying their findings in the Gregg
Interactive Learning Studio.
2012
A week-long program of Art in Nature was being developed for
July 2008, involving
artists, campers, members and visitors. On Thursday evenings
during the summer, the
SSC hosted “Music-by-the-Sea,” a family concert series held
outdoors (under a big tent

in bad weather).
Travel was also part of the SSC’s programming. For several
years, Wendy had gone
with groups of members on naturalist-led trips with a
nature/marine theme: to the
Galapagos Islands, the South Seas, and Central America. As she
pointed out,
“Remember, by traveling with the Center, you support our
mission twice: by living it,
and because a portion of your trip costs is a tax deductible
contribution.” Closer to
home were yearly “Get Away Weekends.” In 2007, there was a
trip to Eastern Egg Rock
Island in Maine to see puffins, and planned for June 2008 was a
trip to Hog Island in
Damariscotta, Maine, for birding, botany, and tidepool
exploration.
VISITATION
The number of visitors coming to the SSC was distinctly
seasonal (see Exhibit 6), with
the greatest number coming during the summer months.
Recently, visitation had
peaked at more than 61,000 people in Fiscal Year 2006 (July
2005–June 2006). FY
2008 so far showed improvement compared with FY 2007, but
was still below the FY
2006 numbers. School programs accounted for 13,000 visits,
down from a high of
about 16,000. The summer and vacation camps were also down.
Rose asked Wendy: “Are bodies coming in the door the right
metric?”
Wendy replied: “Maybe not. Viewers of distance learning

programs are not being
included in visitation counts, only people who come physically
to the site.”
Rose responded: “But that means you could count people who
come to weddings
or corporate parties, people who are wandering around but not
necessarily learning
anything.”
Wendy replied: “That’s true, but if they wander around and are
intrigued, they may
come back with their kids.”
Rose asked about the number of visitors, which had been
growing rapidly every year
when she was on the board. Wendy replied that visitation was
increasing, but only
slightly. One problem, she said, was caused by pressure on
school budgets: “Nobody has
money for field trips anymore.”
Rose commented: “In the early years we pretty much relied on
direct mail to schools
and press releases. What are you doing now to get people to
come to the SSC?”
Wendy replied that the SSC did have a website as well as the
direct mail and press
releases, and that she tried to visit local radio talk shows
regularly, but SSC still had no
brochures in the state’s visitor’s centers, and still used no paid
advertising: “If you’re
doing nothing differently and nothing changes, why are you
surprised? And why don’t

we do any advertising? Because we don’t have any money. And
why not? Because we
don’t have enough people coming to support us, and at $3 a
head, ha!”
COMPETITION
Although no other organization in the seacoast area offered
exhibits or programs simi-
lar to the SSC, Wendy had no trouble coming up with a list of
potential competitors
looking for visitors. Strawbery Banke, a historic village with
homes from all eras of local
history, and the Children’s Museum were located in neighboring
Portsmouth. The
2012
Exhibit 6 Seacoast Science Center Visitation
(Fiscal year: July 1–June 30)
Number of Visitors
Month FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008
July 6,492 12,047 11,548 11,749 10,537
August 6,852 10,173 8,319 5,373 10,604
September 2,827 3,964 2,542 2,932 3,810
October 4,631 2,258 4,832 3,793 4,015
November 26 1,639 1,735 1,702 1,982

December 502 918 1,056 1,187 752
January 58 954 1,025 1,725 1,057
February 130 1,749 1,962 1,846
March 60 1,404 2,277 1,822
April 3,874 4,702 9,752 8,307
May 4,328 6,337 7,529 6,310
June 16,933 10,248 9,170 7,897
Total 46,713 56,393 61,748 54,643
Visitor Revenues ($)
Month FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008
July 9,713 14,620 11,935 6,116 11,951
August 10,547 9,839 12,454 9,519 12,229
September 3,763 5,134 4,070 4,608 3,226
October 3,121 3,829 3,103 3,514 3,981
November 1,735 2,411 1,986 2,228 1,947
December 1,056 1,365 1,056 1,558 922
January 1,431 1,025 1,626 1,449
February 2,554 2,614 2,607
March 2,226 2,605 2,523
April 8,763 6,637 7,554 6,450
May 7,266 4,717 3,671 4,149
June 12,948 6,385 6,058 6,846
Total $58,912 $61,148 $58,131 $51,744
Note: The Seacoast Science Center was closed to visitors for
several months in FY 2004.
Between January and March, there were “very small visitor
numbers, probably from other
activities for which we [the SSC] didn’t charge admission” (W.
Lull, personal correspondence).
Note: Revenues are less than the number of visitors for some
months because of sharing

group fees with Parks as payment for groups’ admission.
Source: Seacoast Science Center records.
Gundalow Company brought its reconstructed sailing vessel to
many sites and activities
in the local area. There were National Estuaries—marine
habitats with interpretive cen-
ters in Stratham, New Hampshire, and Wells, Maine—as well as
the Science and Nature
Center located at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, only
fifteen miles down the New
Hampshire coast. The New England Aquarium in Boston was
only sixty miles away,
offering extensive exhibits of marine wildlife.
Other nearby attractions competing for visitors’ attention and
dollars included a
large water park; beaches and parks along the New Hampshire
coast, including Wallis
Sands, Long Sands, and Hampton Beaches; and an expanse of
outlet malls in nearby
Kittery, Maine.
Rose asked: “Who are you competing with for donors?”
Wendy replied: “Our biggest competitor is Cross Roads House,”
a homeless shelter
and residence that also provided services to help its residents
become independent. She
pointed out that the Portsmouth Music Hall, a historic
performing arts center, was in
the midst of a major renovation and fundraising campaign.
Strawbery Banke was
another competitor for funds. Wendy said: “It’s been around
since the 1960s and is

more valued by long term local donors. We share a lot of
donors, but those individuals
are more likely to support Strawbery Banke’s annual fund.” The
University of New
Hampshire (UNH) and the New Hampshire Charitable
Foundation (NHCF) also
engaged in large scale local fundraising. Wendy noted that UNH
and NHCF were well
organized “for recruiting and maintaining donors who would
want to support similar
mission areas. NHCF also gives us money, so that’s a bit
different . . . but when it comes
to competing for an individual’s dollars, they’d be on the list.”
FINANCES
Fund Raising and Development
Although the Science Center had been in existence for a decade,
the change in manage-
ment to SSC Inc. in 2001 allowed Wendy and the staff to
concentrate on the SSC’s mis-
sion, rather than on trying to balance SSC activities with
ASNH’s philosophy and mis-
sion, which had a stronger focus on habitat preservation.
Additionally, it freed SSC from
the need to contribute to ASNH’s overhead in addition to
covering its own costs, and
allowed the organization to have its own members and donors.
Financial issues for the
whole ASNH organization during the final years of its
management contract had led to
retrenchment, including at the SSC. Consequently, the Seacoast
Science Center had

started its new life “lean and mean.” The initial board of
trustees was primarily con-
cerned with operations and growth; its members were
businesspeople with little experi-
ence with nonprofits or fundraising. It was not until 2005 that a
new board voted to
make fundraising a priority. According to Wendy, the new
chair, Pam Hall, “has a huge
amount of experience.” As an indication of its increased
priority, the chair established a
development committee on the board, rather than the previous
development task force.
Because of this new priority, a donor came forward who, in
addition to an outright
gift of $50,000, pledged to match $20,000 a year for three years
to cover the salary of a
development director. In Wendy’s words, the donor “realized
that you can’t support an
organization like this without some kind of infrastructure for
fundraising.” The SSC also
secured a grant of $25,000 for fundraising software from
Fidelity Investments. Wendy
estimated that fundraising had increased from $50,000–60,000
to $150,000 and then to
$235,000. She expected the FY 2008 number to be closer to
$170,000, however. She
noted that not everyone approved of the increased emphasis on
fundraising:
People are saying either “that’s bad because you’re going to be
too dependent on fundrais-
ing, because it’s going to go to 30 percent instead of 20 percent,
so that’s bad,” or “you’re
not doing your job raising enough money to cover operational
expense.”

The first development director left after less than a year. As a
result, as Wendy said,
“as of November, we had to start the fundraising all over
again.” The new development
director, Nicole Rutherford, came on board in early October
2007.
Even with a development director, fundraising would still be a
challenge, Wendy
told Rose. She was very willing to talk to potential donors, but:
The only way we can generate enough money to make it run,
with part of me, a full
time development person, and twelve hour a week data entry
person is if the board par-
ticipates in fundraising. I don’t know who to ask. They’ve got
to bring the names to me.
They’ve got to do the people. They’re very good, they’ve made
the jump, they write the
checks, that’s huge and great and wonderful. [Fundraising] is
only peer to peer, it does-
n’t work any other way.
She felt that the SSC had already missed several key
opportunities, including one
offered by the new Learning Studio:
[An advisor] had said to me a long time ago, “a smart nonprofit
when it’s doing a capi-
tal campaign builds endowment at the same time because people
will give to bricks and

mortar, they don’t give to water.” This is the second time that
we have been given a mil-
lion dollars—a million dollars!
The Seacoast Science Center had a small endowment generating
approximately
$15,000 per year. Wendy stressed the importance of fundraising
and development:
Why do people give to nonprofits? And part of it is, in our case,
because people won’t pay
what it costs. You can’t charge enough to come into this
building, because people don’t
value it enough. You’re not going to pay what it really costs to
go to the opera or the bal-
let or an art museum. So you get other people who value it who
subsidize it. The donors
are our investors. And the return on investment isn’t money. It’s
the mission. And people
still don’t get it; they say you should charge more. . . . But at
some point, it’s not really
worth it, people won’t pay. . . . We’re in a state park, we’re not
an elitist organization.
Revenue
Aside from development, the major revenue sources for the SSC
were its seasonal camps
and other programs, collectively providing 28.4 percent of
income in FY 2007.
Admissions, set at $3 for adults and $1 for children aged 3 to
12, provided only 7.2 per-
cent (see Exhibit 7). The SSC also rented its facilities and
grounds for weddings and
other private and corporate events. New Hampshire Department
of Parks provided pro-
gram and custodial support since the SSC served as the visitor’s

center for Odiorne
Point State Park. Parks, required by the State of New Hampshire
to be self-funding,
charged $4 per person for admission to the park and $2 for
children aged 6 to 11—fees
that did not include admission to the Seacoast Science Center
and were not typically
collected during the winter months. Members of the SSC were
admitted to the park
without a fee. The SSC also gave Parks a portion of the fee paid
by school groups to
cover their admission.
The SSC offered individual ($40) and family ($65)
memberships, which included
free admission to both the center and the park, members-only
winter hours, the
Seacoast Sun newsletter, and discounts for the nature store and
concerts. Members
donating at higher levels received additional benefits including
the president’s quarterly
letter, guest passes, and/or free school programs. As of 2008,
the SSC had over 1,300
member households, as well as fifty-eight corporate sponsors.
Corporate sponsors
ranged from IBM and Bank of America to Public Service of
New Hampshire (PSNH)
and Piscataqua Savings Bank and to local businesses, such as a
catering company. Many
sponsored a specific event or program; for example, PSNH was
a sponsor of the
Heritage Dinner Series and the Seacoast Sun, while Sprague
Energy sponsored the
Seaside Safari Holiday Camp and “The View from Here”
exhibit. The annual fund
campaign, held in November and December, also offered the

option to donate for a spe-
cific purpose, including funds set up to provide financial
assistance for school programs,
camps and tots, a fund to support maintenance of the exhibits
and care for the animals,
and a professional development fund for staff training.
Grants, while an important source of revenue, were not included
as part of operating
income. Most grants received by SSC were for a specific, short-
term purpose such as
developing software and programming for the Learning Studio.
Large one-time gifts and
2012
Exhibit 7 Seacoast Science Center—Financial Statement
FY09 FY08
Budget Forecast FY07 FY06 FY05
Ordinary Income/Expenses
Income
Admissions 85,666 75,657 64,729 64,575 76,826
Camps 170,430 140,901 129,714 132,918 133,611
Exhibits (grants) 600 5,028 380 1,807 2,989
Facility Rentals 107,850 99,892 82,449 71,491 47,990
Fundraising and Development 295,974 265,118 232,265 240,332
193,137
G&A 0 1,123 0 2,862 3,644

Membership 79,100 73,228 77,725 75,678 77,509
Nature Store 126,936 120,775 125,406 135,645 139,418
Group Programs 129,345 130,383 119,479 129,733 127,025
Parks Contract
Program Support 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000
Custodial Support 15,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 15,000
Learning Studio
Programs 4,500 4,719
Rental 8,400 2,550
Total Revenue 1,073,801 984,374 897,147 920,039 867,149
Expense
Contributions to Others 21,098 16,300 0 20,059 14,271
Advertising/Media 2,635 9,463 7,137 4,804 970
Bad Debt Expense 312 0 2,350 2,350
Bank Service Charges 566 849 271 110
Benefits 81,411 79,166 78,849 55,848 59,314
Credit Card Processing 6,744 4,975 5,279 7,295 6,615
Design 78 1,057 1,291
Dues and Subscriptions 1,122 1,425 1,077 50 306
Hosting Expense 600 1,509 1,408 1,898 935
Equipment 5,250 12,058 –8,161 0 780
Events Expense 36,764 30,056 46,572 52,977 61,998
Exhibits Costs 1,050 611 –314 1,998 –2,852
Facility—Cleaning Service 4,500 8,602 9,144 16,639 16,414
Insurance 17,340 19,526 18,049 17,213 11,822
Interest Expense 3,885 4,008 2,951 5,212 3,537
Inventory Expense 62,810 63,064 64,776 68,196 76,086
Lease—Equipment 20,820 17,481 22,168 14,451 8,271
Licenses and Permits 1,120 38 800 0 50
Outside Services 13,420 12,931 29,638 19,228 12,797
Payroll Expenses 734,167 702,067 641,333 579,196 554,371

Petty Cash 599 20 0 600
Postage 13,580 10,138 11,202 12,226 11,768
Printing 12,531 12,113 11,973 15,271 16,118
Professional Development 2,624 5,892 1,084 841 2,364
Professional Fees* 20,080 26,948 20,897 19,905 6,721
Program Expense 6,600 3,760 7,762 9,763 15,412
Rental 400 104 350 330
Repairs & Maintenance 4,145 5,308 4,653 6,244 7,117
Shipping 3,345 2,305 3,051 3,196 3,454
Software 2,330 2,476 182 1,415 900
Supplies 24,406 25,250 22,064 15,632 15,087
Travel Expense 5,014 3,036 3,991 5,950 5,473
Voice & Data 16,800 18,310 2,311 6,909 15,619
Total Expense 1,126,903 1,099,983 1,010,926 966,442 930,398
Net Ordinary Operating Income –53,102 –115,609 –113,779 –
46,402 –63,249
One-Time Revenue Items
Whale Offset 4,500
Sweet’s Development Grant 10,000 20,000 20,000 10,000
Sweet AF Gift 175,000 50,000
Spaulding Bequest 24,800
Geoadventures 5,039
Learning Studio 10,233
Total One-Time Revenue 14,500 20,000 210,272 84,800 0
Net Ordinary Income with –38,602 –95,609 96,493 38,398 –
63,249
One-Time Revenue Items
Fiscal year ends March 31.
*Attorney fees; accounting audits requried for federal grants
greater than $300,000.

Source: Seacoast Science Center records.
bequests were likewise not an annual occurrence, and were
accounted for separately.
Frequently, however, these one-time items made up the deficit
in the operating budget.
Expenses
By far the major expense for the SSC was payroll and benefits.
There were eighteen full-
time year-round staff, as well as part time and seasonal
employees. Other significant
costs included the lease of the facility from Parks, the expenses
involved in special events,
and professional fees. Exhibit costs included only the cost of
materials and in some cases
were negative because of earmarked donations. Program
expenses were also reduced by
the use of volunteers and college students for the camp
programs.
PARTNERSHIPS
The SSC continued to work closely with two of the founding
organizations, Parks,
because of its location, and the University of New Hampshire.
Wendy characterized the
latter relationship as “better now than we ever had before.” The
SSC was currently
working with more than thirteen departments across the
university, including art and
history as well as business and the sciences. The remaining
founding organization,

ASNH, was no longer a partner, although it sent an occasional
camp group on a field
trip, and its Seacoast chapter still met monthly at the SSC.
Several of the corporate sponsors also partnered on specific
projects. IBM donated
$30,000 in technology for the Gregg Interactive Learning
Studio. PSNH funded an
energy audit of the facility, as part of the SSC’s Energy
Conservation Initiative.
Timberland, a long-time partner, sent several hundred
volunteers every year to help
with park cleanup, clearing and building trails, and other
outdoor activities.
Other organizations and their representatives also partnered
with the SSC. Steve
Engstrom, the aquarist, worked closely with New Hampshire
Public Television as they
filmed a segment on “Our Rocky Coast” for the “Windows on
the Wild” series. A
retired archaeology professor from the University of Maine was
one of the leaders of a
Get Away Weekend, while a team of faculty from Dartmouth as
well as UNH devel-
oped the “Great Bay to the Sea” exhibit. The Institute for
Exploration and the National
Network Marine Institute shared technology and programming.
BACK TO THE QUESTION AND THE ISSUE
Rose Wood, long-time supporter of the Seacoast Science Center,
looked at Wendy Lull,
president of SSC, with concern. Was Wendy serious about
doubling the admission
price? If visitation went down because of the increase, there

could be repercussions in
other areas, notably donor reactions. “What would they be
giving money to?” she asked.
“You’d be reaching fewer people, fewer school groups. . . .”
Wendy replied that even though attendance was down to 55,000,
half of its peak in
the early 1990s, the Seacoast Science Center was still reaching
more people than most
local organizations. She continued,
If the only reason you’re giving to us is because of the number
of people we reach, then
don’t. But if you look at the quality of the experience that we
have . . . the two things
that separate us from other institutions are the quality of the
live animal exhibits and the
experience you get when you get here.
2012
The issue, for Wendy, was the future direction for the Seacoast
Science Center in a
world of high energy prices and reduced school budgets for
travel. Even if programs
were paying for themselves, there was still overhead;
“somebody’s got to pay for Jim and
Suzy,” she told Rose. The Learning Studio offered great
opportunities for programs—
“it’s such a new type of museum experience that there isn’t a
name for it yet . . .”—but
she didn’t think they could charge extra for it.

Rose agreed: “Donors to nonprofits usually prefer to fund bricks
and mortar, or
projects, rather than people—but the people are necessary to run
the facility and to raise
money, and nobody wants to donate for that!”
Wendy smiled ruefully. “Our people are what make us a unique
experience. With
that perennial ‘$50,000 problem,’ how do we make sure that we
continue to provide
that experience? Maybe we need a new way of doing business.”
NOTES
1. Shoal: “a sandbank or sandbar that makes the water shallow.”
http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/shoals.
2. Macalaster, Gretyl. (June 24, 2007). New Gregg Learning
Studio opens in Rye to
rave reviews. Foster’s Daily Democrat. Retrieved from
http://www.fosters.com/
apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070624/FOSTERS01/106240324/-
1/services0501.
3. Ibid.
4. About us. Seacoast Science Center. Retrieved from
http://www.seacoast
sciencectr.org/about/.
5. Ibid.
6. Quoted in Shepherd, Jan. (April 22, 2007). Not all is fishy at
NH seacoast museum.
Boston Globe. Retrieved from
http://www.boston.com/travelarticles/2007/04/20/

not_all_is_fishy_at_nh_seacoast_museum/.
7. New exhibits open! Seacoast Science Center. Retrieved from
http://www.seacoast
sciencecenter.org/about/news/detail.php?news_id=30.
8. Ibid.
9. Ocean literacy. Retrieved from
http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy.php.
10. Marine and coastal science brochure. Seacoast Science
Center. Retrieved from
http://www.seacoastsciencecenter.org/programs/groups.php.
11. Distance learning with the Seacoast Science Center.
Seacoast Science Center. Retrieved
from
http://www.seacoastsciencecenter.org/programs/distance_learni
ng.php.

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