Update from our CEO | 2022 Report of Generosity | March 2023

Dear Friend of the Museum,

After the challenges we all faced in 2020 and 2021, it feels really great to reflect back on 2022, a year for the Discovery Museum that I feel happy to tell you about. I will summarize the year as, “We are back—and moving forward.” And for that we have you and many others to thank.

Let me tell you about some of our work in 2022.

Climate and Environmental Action and Education

This past summer we completed the onsite installation of a 326kWh solar array, which is now fully operational. We are generating more solar electricity than we use and have become a community solar provider, providing clean energy at a discount to several nonprofit organizations in our region: Green Energy Consumer Alliance, Acton Housing Authority, Haley House, Ben Field Farms, and Copper Smith Village. 

In 2022 we helped found the Carbon Neutral Visiting Initiative (CNVI). CNVI works with museums and other cultural institutions to understand, measure, and offset carbon emissions by visitors and staff. With CNVI support, we assessed our carbon footprint and set up a mechanism to fund offsets for staff and member travel; the program has had a greater than 99% participation rate by our members. The funds are supporting a landfill gas recapture project in Florida. We will look to expand the program this year to cover all Museum visitors.

New nature programs have focused on building children’s skills for observation, measuring, classifying, communicating what is important to them, taking concrete environmental action, and more. In 2022 we successfully piloted a four-part program at the Museum called Nature Explorers. Discovery Museum educators also delivered a four-episode program to students participating in the after school program at the Assabet Valley Boys and Girls Club in Maynard. This series brought our sustainability content to a new, somewhat older, audience with a focus on building skills for collecting and displaying weather and climate data. 

In 2022 we also piloted a new program to connect families at risk for experiencing mental health challenges with nature and the outdoors. Working with community partners, Museum staff led eight, no-cost nature field trips for families served by these groups. Nearly 300 adult and child participants received backpack “field kits” with fun tools for exploring nature, a “Nature Passport” to inspire at-home outdoor exploration, and a handout describing the mental health benefits of being outdoors and in natural spaces. We are planning to triple the number of free nature field trips we offer through our partner organizations this year.

Celebrating Discovery Museum’s 40th Anniversary!

2022 was an exciting year as we celebrated our 40th birthday—a truly joyful occasion in its own right, but especially so after having endured several challenging years during the pandemic. The Museum marked the occasion all year long with special events to convey our gratitude to our community for many years of support. As is our practice, we planned these celebrations to be accessible to all, including to those facing economic barriers to access. Events included summer patio performances by The Chhandam Institute of Kathak Dance (Chhandika), musician and storyteller Shaw Pong Liu, and a jazz performance by Berkshire Hills Music Academy, a program for musicians with intellectual and developmental disabilities; free summer movie nights on our lawn; a free Community Day in September, which was attended by more than 1,000 people; and a full month of 1982 pricing in October, with visitors paying just $2.50 per person all month. More than 18,000 people took advantage of this discount—exceeding our pre-pandemic October 2019 visitation by 41%.

Our 40th Anniversary program also included a series of “Dinner Dialogues,” four exclusive events at which guests examined, discussed, and debated the future of childhood under the guidance of national experts. Proceeds from these events will support our ongoing sustainability and equity initiatives. Our four presenters led lively and informative conversations about some of the key challenges and opportunities today’s kids will face in adulthood. Environmental educator and author David Sobel led an engaging discussion (outdoors on our patio) about the important partnership between children and nature. Author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds spoke about the role creativity and empathy must play in children’s futures. Dr. Valora Washington, President and CEO of the CAYL Institute, led a conversation about the megatrends impacting the trajectory of children’s lives. Former Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson took us through the layered challenges of environmental justice, climate change, and racial inequity in STEM education. These dialogues made us even more cognizant of the important role we must play in preparing kids for this future world. 

Discovery Museum Speaker Series

We are continuing to use our Speaker Series as a platform for advocating for our values. In our 10th anniversary year, we hosted five virtual events with more than 1,200 registrants across the country. The events addressed issues of human dignity, stress and resilience in kids, climate change understanding, coding as a 21st century skill, and bringing joy through storytelling. Our plans for 2023 are even more ambitious and the series theme of “Conversation. Understanding. Hope.” is aimed at fostering positive dialogue around many challenging topics confronting kids and families.

A Busy and Successful Year

As always, 2022 was a busy year at Discovery Museum. I am happy to report that operations are nearly back to normal after two years impacted by the pandemic. We finished out the year having reached more than 203,000 children and adults, far exceeding our 2021 total of 106,000 people, with our visitation reaching 87% of our 2019, pre-pandemic numbers. Our Traveling Science Workshops, which bring hands-on science to school classrooms, reached a record 45,769 students with 2,354 workshops—a whopping 105% increase over the previous year! Importantly across all our services, 28% of those participating did so for free or virtually for free.  

I encourage you to take a look at our 2022 Report of Generosity, which highlights our work and impact and the support of an incredible 1,071 donors who gave at a record level.

I very much welcome your feedback, questions, and suggestions at ngordon [at] discoveryacton.org (ngordon[at]discoveryacton[dot]org).

As always,

Neil Gordon
CEO