WOW looks to make splash in '05

Wonders of Wildlife, the American National Fish and Wildlife Museum, has made several changes in 2004, including a new executive director and a new board chairman.

But Director Tony Schoonen’s emerging presence and former interim director Max Peterson’s appointment as board chairman are not the only causes for optimism. Hopes to turn around the struggling museum hang on a capital campaign and new traveling exhibits set to visit the museum in 2005.

One of those exhibits, the Smithsonian’s “In Search of the Giant Squid,” is one of the museum’s most ambitious projects to date, according to sales associate Mark Heins.

The museum has hosted Smithsonian exhibits before, “but none of this caliber,” Heins said.

The 2,000-square-foot exhibit cost about $25,000 to bring to Springfield. It’s currently on display at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University and will make its only Midwestern stop at WOW beginning in late January.

In addition, a traveling Smithsonian exhibit on the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System opened at WOW Dec. 20 – another element of Schoonen’s turnaround plan.

“We promised the community here when I came in that we were going to start getting traveling displays and exhibits in,” Schoonen said.

A capital campaign also is planned next year, however, details have not been finalized.

The campaign funds will help pay for new exhibits within the museum’s expansion – a rotunda connecting the museum with Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World next door and a new IMAX theater and conservation education center, which officials expect to open in 2006. That project is expected to take 12 months, though there is no set date for construction to begin.

Money issues

The museum is hoping to bring in most of its revenue from admissions. Schoonen said he expects between 220,000 and 225,000 visitors in 2005, a flat projection from 2004’s 222,000 expected visitors.

“We didn’t show a growth rate, because we don’t know the timing or the impact of the construction,” Schoonen said. “At this point that’s a variable we can’t define.”

2006 projections have not been finalized due to the unknown effects of construction.

Budget figures for next year are the most optimistic since 2002, when 900,000 visitors were expected – and a disappointing 406,000 passed through the gates. If projections are correct, 2005 will be the first year in which the museum operates at a profit, mostly because of the increased admission revenues and smaller debt payments due to lower interest rates associated with Johnny Morris’ February bond buyout.

Contribution changes

One of the bigger changes the museum has made is in its corporate fund raising. Chief Financial Officer Peggy Smith said the old system was based on giving companies benefits in exchange for different levels of contribution.

“It usually was tickets or rental activities, like where they could come in and do a breakfast at no charge except for their meals,” Smith said. “A portion of that donation was the value of those benefits and then the amount over and above that value would be a tax-deductible donation.”

Smith said the new fund-raising setup, called Wildlife Heritage Circle, eliminates the benefits in favor of pure tax-deductible donations.

For companies seeking naming benefits, there is a separate sponsorship program for individual events.

One of the museum’s largest donors is Commerce Bank. The bank has donated $20,000 since the museum opened, along with $40,000 more as trustee of the W.T. Kemper Foundation. Bank President Bob Hammerschmidt said the bank enjoys its relationship with Wonders of Wildlife.

“We’ve supported the WOW since its inception,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to the educational aspect of this. We believe it is going to be the core of its success.”

Hammerschmidt added that Commerce Bank has already made plans to continue its support.

“We’ll be visiting with them about their capital campaign,” he said. “We’re going to be budgeting for it right away. We’re kind of guessing what they’ll be asking for.”

The educational side of the museum also is growing.

“We’ve expanded our educational programs to include an education guide for schools and youth groups, as well as a community guide,” Schoonen said. “We’re going to be offering things on the last Saturday of every month called Wonders Days, and we’re going to have keeper chats and different demonstrations. We’re also offering classes like our Aquarius class, where kids learn how to work with fish and things like that.”

New faces

Tony Schoonen was named museum director in March of 2004, and employees are excited about the new direction he plans for the museum, according to Heins.

“Tony has a very good vision of where we need to go,” Heins said. “Personally, I think that he is a very good person for this position and I certainly think that he will be here for a long time. There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm expressed by everybody here to have an executive director of his type of caliber here.”

Peterson was named chairman of the museum board in November, replacing longtime chair John Moore, who remains on the board.

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