Non-Fungible Tokens and Non-Profit Management: Participation, Revenue Generation, and Strategic Planning

Abstract

While most influential in art markets, the non-fungible token (NFT) phenomenon also has serious ramifications for museums and other cultural institutions. This chapter explores these applications to core non-profit missions and activities, including audience development, fundraising, earned-income generation, acquisitions, and institutions’ relationships with their communities. Any initiative involving NFTs at a museum is also an exercise in strategic planning. We develop a novel conceptual framework around mapping institutions’ “financial” and “philosophical” priorities to guide strategic planning around NFTs. We present this framework through five case studies that range from existing museum projects around revenue generation, conservation, and endowment to two hypothetical scenarios around deaccessioning, restitution, and institutions’ relationships with their audiences. Cultural institutions apart from museums may also find the framework valuable and worth incorporating into their strategic planning processes as it can be tailored to an organization’s individual priorities, artistic missions, and financial needs.