Streamlined technology proves essential for
launch of children’s museum

As the city of High Point, North Carolina undergoes a substantial revitalization,
the focal point has been the addition of a new children’s museum.

The Nido & Mariana Qubein Children’s Museum, named in honor of High Point
University’s president and his wife, provides a place of interactive learning for
local and visiting children and has been certified as an autism destination, with
all staff formally trained.

Within nine months of opening, the museum had welcomed over 140,000
people from 42 states, and with the support of Blackbaud Altru, the leading
cultural management solution built specifically for general admission
organizations, they were well prepared. “If it was not for Blackbaud and
its support services team, we would not have been able to handle the
overwhelming demand,” explained Director of Operations and Guest
Experience Olivia Pekkala.

Opening Day Success with Blackbaud Altru

The Qubein Children’s Museum was born from the desire for a place where
the children of High Point could learn and grow. Early on in the museum’s
development, the board and staff knew that to be successful, they needed a
trusted technology partner.

“We wanted a ticket and membership software system that could meet all
our needs,” said Pekkala. “After speaking with other successful children’s
museums, the overwhelming consensus was that Blackbaud Altru was the
only way to go.”

Designed to support a user-friendly experience for staff and guests, Altru ties
together ticketing, fundraising, membership management, merchandising,
and marketing, and is the trusted choice for most children’s museums in the
United States. Pekkala, who has extensive experience with other point-of-sale
systems, has been impressed with Altru’s flexibility in ticketing and that it
provides her staff a 360-degree view of their organization.

While eagerly awaiting the grand opening, the four-member guest services
team knew they needed to be ready to manage a high demand for tickets
and new memberships. “Having a robust ticketing solution like Altru was
key to a successful opening,” Pekkala said. “It’s like we have additional
staff. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what we’ve
accomplished.”

Blackbaud’s customer success and professional services teams collaborated
with the museum’s guest services staff and provided guidance throughout
the implementation. “From the moment I had my initial call with our customer
success manager, I felt that the support was always there,” Pekkala said.
“I could always email someone and get a response.”

While getting their initial operations running, her team also relied daily
on Blackbaud Knowledgebase articles and thought leadership resources
available directly within Altru as well as the Blackbaud Community.
Without the proper technology, it is more challenging for museums to handle
a huge demand for memberships, donations, and ticket sales. With Altru’s
online ticketing features, Qubein Children’s Museum knew what type of
crowd to expect each day and could control capacity, which Pekkala cited as
some of Altru’s “best functionalities.”

Positioned for a Bright Future

Named North Carolina’s Visitor Attraction of the Year by the NC Tourism
Industry Association, Qubein Children’s Museum could not have kicked off
a better opening. In addition to strong attendance numbers, the museum
tallied more than 1,000 memberships in the first three months. And with
Altru, the museum is poised to convert many of those visitors and members
into donors, while continuing to steward the strong relationships they’ve
already established with supporters.

With fundraising well underway prior to their adoption of Blackbaud solutions,
the team was able to retroactively record that data in Altru. “We were able
to create notes in constituent records and log award memberships based
on donor levels, which is very important for our donor stewardship efforts,”
Pekkala said.

Blackbaud Altru was instrumental in hosting an adults-only night so donors
without children could also see the museum. The functionality of scheduled
programs in Altru allowed them to send a link to donors to pre-reserve tickets
and then sell the remaining tickets to other guests.
“Being able to serve over 100,000 people with one system is a huge win,”
Pekkala said. “There’s so much more that we can learn from the solution,
and we look forward to expanding even more on the great things that Altru
provides with our development efforts.”