THE TDG BUSINESS MODEL
Because TDG partners and associates are all practicing experts in their fields, TDG has committed to only take on a limited number of Tier I clients in a calendar year.
TDG was formed as an inexpensive second-opinion evaluation option for start-up or small-to-medium-sized museums and science centers. Its founding partners discovered that often new or small museum boards, executive directors, and senior staff have access to deep but narrow expertise but often lack the means or knowledge to effectively stand up the full range of skills that a fledgling but fully functional museum organization needs. Board members might know their business community, for example, and CEOs might be experts in their organization’s content, but they might not have access locally to the skills they need in exhibits, educational programs, social networking, or development.
Museums, science centers, planetariums, zoos, and other informal education learning centers have nuanced functional requirements. They aren’t businesses, but they use business principles. They aren’t schools, but they all educate. They aren’t libraries or bookstores, but they all use stories to convey content. Regardless of the type of institutions, they have common roots. And often, common problems.
TDG doesn’t pretend to know cause vs. effect in advance. We listen and pay attention; we research and ask questions. We look for what’s working and for dysfunction. Like tuning a small engine or trying to shave a quarter-second off of an athlete’s running time, usually fixes are small and easily to adopt. It’s why our fee structure is tiered. Often one visit is all it takes.
TIER II
Upon submission of a Tier I assessment, clients often want to drill down deeper into specific issues. TDG has agreements and/or access to experts familiar with many of these. Every organization is different and TDG does not pretend to offer cookie-cutter solutions. If necessary, TDG will identify, find and bring aboard the skill set and expertise needed and this team — usually two-to-four people — will fully evaluate each second tier issues. The deliverable is a functional report, complete with actionable recommendations for the client to consider. Typically, a Tier II assessment or audit can last three days.
Cost: $2,000 per team member, plus expenses
It is TDG’s commitment to keep Tier I and II costs affordable. We’ve found that the $2k per team member per evaluation balances the incentive to field experts who want to give something back with enough monetary investment by the client to at least consider the points identified in their second-opinion report. Institutions who need but cannot afford a Tier I assessment have self-identified their first issue: low levels of available cash assets.