How Cultural Institutions Can Simplify Commerce, Donations & Engagement One Unified Platform

In 2025, the role of cultural institutions goes far beyond curating exhibitions and opening gallery doors.

Whether you are a museum, public art gallery, heritage centre or performing arts body, you are probably managing an increasingly complex mix of programs, donations, ticketed events, gift shop sales, memberships and community engagement, all while meeting public sector compliance and reporting obligations.

But here is the challenge: most systems were not built to handle all of that under one roof.

Fragmentation is hurting visitor and donor experience

Let’s say a family visits your museum. They buy entry tickets online, purchase souvenirs at your physical store, later register their kids for a school holiday program, and make a donation at the end of the year. Great!

Except… those interactions probably happened across four different systems:

• A ticketing platform

• A separate POS system in the gift shop

• An event registration tool

• A donation form embedded on your website

That means multiple accounts, disjointed reporting, staff constantly reconciling data, and a lost opportunity to build meaningful relationships with your visitors.

Sound familiar?

One Platform.

One Source of Truth.

One Seamless Experience.

That’s where StoreConnect, built natively on Salesforce, comes in.

It offers cultural institutions a unified commerce and engagement platform, where all donations, purchases, bookings, memberships, and communications live in one secure place.

Here is what that means in practice:

✅ A visitor who makes a purchase in your gift shop can be automatically thanked and invited to donate - no extra data entry required.
✅ Staff can launch new exhibits, workshops, or fundraising campaigns quickly - no IT ticket needed.
✅ Your online store, events, and donation pages are managed in one platform, all connected to your CRM.
✅ Reporting on what worked (and what didn’t) is instant and reliable with no spreadsheets in sight.

Designed for the public sector, built for public trust

StoreConnect was created with public institutions in mind.

It’s compliant with ISO 27001, SOC 2, and HIPAA standards, and can be deployed in Australian-hosted, US and other data centres through Salesforce and Heroku Private Spaces. That’s critical for institutions tied to local or state government requirements.

And because it’s built entirely on Salesforce, there is no syncing, no third-party plug-ins to break, and no chasing different vendors to make your systems talk to each other.

From retail to relationships

You might be selling books, prints, or handmade gifts in your shop. You might run ticketed lectures or after-hours programs. Or you might just want to build a loyal base of members and donors who feel connected to your mission.

Whatever the mix, unifying those touchpoints is what transforms a one-time visitor into a lifelong supporter.

StoreConnect helps you do just that, with tools to manage:

• Online and in-person sales

• Ticketing and bookings

• Membership and loyalty programs

• Custom donation campaigns

• Public-facing websites and content

• Reporting and grant outcomes

All from one place. All saved securely inside Salesforce.

It’s time to bring it together

Cultural institutions are trusted public storytellers. Your systems should reflect that same standard of trust and cohesion.

If you are tired of juggling disconnected tools, reconciling messy spreadsheets, and missing opportunities to engage your visitors more deeply, maybe it’s time to unify your commerce, your content, and your community under one platform.

StoreConnect is built for exactly that.

👉 Learn more about how StoreConnect supports public sector organisations

Or book a demo today and see how we are setting a new standard for security in Commerce.