CARTER COUNTY GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
PO Box 445, Ekalaka, MT 59324 cartercountymuseum.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: To increase & diffuse knowledge & appreciation of history, art & science; to discover, excavate & preserve fossils, fossil bones, & human artifacts; to advance the science of archaeology & paleontology; to collect and preserve artifacts of historic, artistic & scientific interest and to maintain a library.

Educational programming is a central tenant of our mission. In 2020 we held a number of educational events, including the annual Dino Shindig, craft nights (7), the Junior Scientist Program (66), star parties (60), and programming through the National Institute for STEM Education Earth & Space toolkit (72). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the museum shifted the majority of our programming to virtual platforms, including Facebook, zoom and YouTube. These included lectures, educational videos and activities (scavenger hunt, escape room), and participation in International Dark Sky week, among others. Virtual programming engaged a total of 15,602 people. On site programming conducted before the pandemic and during with health precautions in place served an additional 225. The 9th Annual Dino Shindig went to a hybrid program, including virtual talks hosted on Facebook and YouTube (377 attendees, 739 YouTube views). In-person attendees to the Shindig totaled 224 over a three day period for a grand total of 601. Approximately 15986 people were reached through programs on-site and virtual outreach. Since 2013, the Shindig has served 11788 people. The Shindig earned 14630.37 in program revenue, with expenses of 3209.76. In 2020, we received a grant of 5000 from the Humanities Montana CARES Act Relief fund to develop a series of at-home educational kits and associated virtual programming. A Nonprofit Social Services Grant from the State of Montana helped defray costs associated with the Dino Shindig (678.61). From the 2019 MT Community Foundation grant, 2801.94 was spent to support the Jr. Scientist program. Montana State University awarded the museum an outreach SEED grant of 3350, which will be spent in 2021 per the grant application. Other program expenses included the Jr. Scientist (715.45), Star Lab (42.88), membership lectures (127.20), 184 for fundraising in relation to the Shindig, and 4402.47 toward the purchase of educational software for the Ekalaktic Dome. Other revenue included 637.97 toward the Jr. Scientist program.

Museum Development - Exhibitions at the Carter County Museum follow the narrative of the landscape through the deep past and its evolving relationship between a diverse group of indigenous and ranching cultures. Our collections were amassed over an 80+ year period and represent 90 million years of history and prehistory of Southeastern Montana and Carter County. Contributions to this program service include the SCOPE volunteer program (1837)) and Feek's Vision fund (5480) This program service incurs costs related to display materials, archival and conservation supplies and a volunteer program. Much of the funding comes from donor restricted funds and grants allocated for this purpose. In 2019, grants of 2400 were expended for the Geological Society stipend for projects related to museum based educational programming. Donor restricted funds went toward costs of our volunteer program (129.99), Feek's Vision Documentary Project (4968.00), and displays (99.99). Lab equipment totaled 501.01, workshops 131.67, Archival 361.05, Shifting Scenes history project 591.25. The museum received a Nonprofit Social Services Grant from the State of Montana, which included 6592.15 in funds toward exhibition development and collections preservation and 8063.86 purchased in health and safety supplies in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development awarded the museum 38,000 for the Eastern Montana Initiative in support of our Ekalaktic Dome planetarium project. Of this grant, 16023 was used to purchase an Emerald Star-Lite G6 Planetarium Projector and 21977 for a 20ft Dome from SimpleTerra. An additional 1970.44 was spent toward the museum's digitization projects, 25 for conference attendance, 586 for information tech, and 4029 in office expenses.

Outreach program services in 2020 were greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The museum focused primarily on virtual educational outreach. Virtual participation by the Museum Director included involvement in the Museum Association of Montana, Visit Southeast Montana, the Montana Governors Tourism Advisory Council, the MT Chapter of the International Dark Sky Association, National Association for Interpretation, as well as attendance at the annual Montana Dinosaur Trail Meeting. Through the efforts of the Carter County Museum and Montana State Parks, Medicine Rocks State Park was granted certification as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary in December 2020. The museum will continue to conduct Dark Sky events at the park and complete the annual report for this program in perpetuity. The Montana Learning Center partnered with the museum for the Clades & Spades Fossil Camp program, which brought in 1552.95 in revenue and served 8 people over a one week period in August. Advertising and promotion accounted for expenses of 1093. The museum received a 2000 grant from the Reimaging Rural project for rural community development which was used to match funds for EMT supplies (617.86); 1382.14 will be spent of this grant in 2021 for the Ekalaka History Trail project. As a direct result of our program services (educational, outreach and museum development), 20039 people were served in 2020.

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