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 the 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 III

TDG is primarily a consulting community but when necessary can broker arrangements for clients for short-term solutions designed to buy the time boards, CEOs and senior staff may need to develop and grow cheaper, in-house capabilities. Such operational support solutions include, but are not limited to, exhibit design and manufacturing; signage, graphics, and media products; website development; third-party food or gift shop set-up or services; or temporary or interim staff. We refer to these as Tier III arrangements.

Cost: variable dependent