Museum of the Peace Corps Experience

What Museum of the Peace Corps Experience does

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 93-1289853) founded in 1999 and incorporated in Oregon in March 2000, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and presenting the material culture and personal narratives of the U.S. Peace Corps and the more than 240,000 Americans who have served in 140+ countries since 1961. The museum operates without a permanent facility, mounting traveling exhibitions at partner cultural institutions — including the Kennedy Center, American University Museum, the DC Public Library's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, and the International Peace Museum in Dayton — and is actively exploring a permanent site in Washington, D.C. near the planned Peace Corps Park.

Its core offerings are a curated objects collection (textiles, tools, artworks, masks, and household items donated by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers), a digital stories platform hosting 600-800 word personal narratives, a searchable Peace Corps Authors bibliography, the Many Faces of Peace Corps video and oral-history program (in partnership with American University), and Google Earth-based story mapping that geotags narratives by region and country. The organization runs an Exhibits Toolkit that lets NPCA affiliate groups produce local exhibits, and it is preparing the 65 Objects That Changed the World exhibition for October 2026 - January 2027 to coincide with the Peace Corps' 65th anniversary and America 250.

The museum is volunteer-led (40+ active volunteers, 15-person board) under Director Zack Klim (formerly of NYU Steinhardt) and Board President Anne Baker (former National Peace Corps Association Vice President). Revenue comes from a tiered individual giving program ($500 to $50,000+), institutional foundation grants (Pomeroy, JM Zell, Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation, Global Development Solutions), corporate matching gifts, planned giving and bequests, stock donations via Vanguard, an annual membership program, and a recently soft-launched museum store. Admission to exhibitions is free, and the museum is an institutional member of the American Alliance of Museums and an affiliate of the National Peace Corps Association.

Name

Museum of the Peace Corps Experience

Legal name

Committee for a Museum of the Peace Corps Experience

Website

https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that preserves and exhibits artifacts, oral histories, and stories from over 240,000 returned U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers across 140+ countries, operating through traveling exhibitions at partner libraries and museums while planning a permanent Washington, D.C. facility.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Museum Services

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

History Museums (THAJADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), History, Heritage & Museum-Focused Study Tours (THAKAGAN)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage preservation
• Traveling museum exhibitions
• Oral history collections
• Nonprofit arts education
• Digital storytelling platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Oregon City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Program: Annual membership program inviting RPCVs and supporters to join as members, providing newsletters and community connection.
2. Donations and Contributions: Individual donations including one-time and monthly giving, with support tiers at various contribution levels ($50,000+, $10,000-$49,999, $5,000-$9,999, $2,500-$4,999, $500-$2,499).
3. Stock Donations: Gifts of stock accepted through Vanguard account, immediately liquidated upon receipt.
4. Planned Giving and Bequests: Bequests through wills/trusts, IRA beneficiary designations, and life insurance beneficiary designations.
5. Corporate Matching Gifts: Corporate matching gift program where employers match employee contributions, potentially increasing donations by 50% or more.
6. Institutional Grants and Foundation Support: Foundation and corporate funding from supporters including Global Development Solutions, JM Zell, Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation, Pomeroy Foundation, and others.
7. Museum Store Revenue: Soft launch of Museum Store at Peace Corps Connect 2026, selling merchandise celebrating Peace Corps service.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience curates and presents traveling museum exhibitions, collects objects and personal stories from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and produces educational programming about Peace Corps service across 140+ countries. Because it does not maintain a permanent physical facility, it operates as a startup museum that distributes free exhibitions and digital content through partner libraries, museums, and cultural institutions, funded by donations, memberships, grants, and a small museum store.

Product overview

The Museum of the Peace Corps Experience is a museum startup that operates as a collection of interconnected programs rather than a single unified tech product. Its core offerings include physical and virtual museum exhibitions showcasing artifacts and stories, a curated objects and collections program, a digital stories platform featuring personal narratives from RPCVs, a bibliography database of Peace Corps authors, and the Many Faces of Peace Corps diversity initiative. The museum does not maintain a permanent exhibition facility but partners with libraries, museums, and cultural institutions nationwide to expand public access through traveling exhibitions and educational programming.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Museum Exhibitions (Physical and Virtual)
• Objects and Collections
• Stories Collection
• Peace Corps Authors: A Bibliography
• Many Faces of Peace Corps
• Peace by Design: Posters, Poems, and the Spirit of Peace Corps
• Ubuntu in Action: Exploring Peace Corps Service and Shared Humanity
• 65 Objects That Changed the World
• Museum Store

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 240,000 Peace Corps volunteers' stories and objects preserved since 1961
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• American Alliance of MuseumscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2021The Museum is an institutional member of the American Alliance of Museums, ensuring compliance with best practices and highest standards of museum management.
• National Peace Corps AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMPCE is an affiliate of the National Peace Corps Association, participating in annual Peace Corps Connect conferences and NPCA programs.
• DC Public LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Peace by Design exhibition at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (October 2025 - February 2026), with DCPL providing venue and Museum providing content.
• International Peace Museum (Dayton, OH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Ubuntu in Action exhibition presented as part of the International Peace Museum's Season of Nonviolence 2025.
• Peace Corps Iran AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Peace by Design exhibition, contributing stories and artifacts from Iran service period (1962-1976).
• American UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost of Peace Corps at 60 exhibition (2021); partner for Peace Corps Community Archive with oral history collections.
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoordinated exhibits for REACH Opening Festival in September 2019, including The Towering Task documentary screening.
• Peace Corps Oral History Archives Project (OHAP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership for the Many Faces of Peace Corps video project, preserving in-depth oral interviews of RPCVs and host country counterparts.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Museum of the American Revolution: Philadelphia-based specialty museum that launched without a permanent home and built a national fundraising campaign around an American-history narrative — directly comparable trajectory to MPCE's pre-facility stage.
• International Peace Museum: Dayton, OH-based museum dedicated to peacemakers and nonviolence; partnered with MPCE on the Ubuntu in Action exhibition. Shares a peace/cross-cultural education mission and operates without a permanent mega-facility footprint.
• National WWI Museum and Memorial: National museum preserving the legacy of a 20th-century American service generation; comparable curatorial scope to Peace Corps-era service narratives and a benchmark for a permanent national-identity museum. Board member Karis Erwin came directly from this institution.

Broad incumbents

• National Peace Corps Association: The 501(c)(3) membership organization of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers; MPCE is an NPCA affiliate. NPCA operates the broader RPCV ecosystem while MPCE focuses on the curatorial/heritage layer.
• American Alliance of Museums: National membership body representing the museum sector; MPCE is an institutional member. Functions as the accrediting/standards umbrella under which the Museum operates.
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: National cultural institution and prior MPCE exhibition partner (REACH Opening Festival, 2019). Comparable in leveraging federal-era heritage narratives for public programming.
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Largest U.S. history museum and steward of Peace Corps-related collections and artifacts; defines the addressable competitive space for Peace Corps heritage storytelling.

Emerging players

• U.S. National Archives: Federal repository that holds Peace Corps operational records; functionally a partial substitute and potential long-term collection partner or competitor for primary-source Peace Corps materials.
• World War II Museum (National WWII Museum): New Orleans-based national museum that grew from a small D-Day exhibit into a federally designated institution; instructive peer for a service-era museum pursuing a permanent national facility.

Regional players

• American University Museum: DC-area host venue for the 'Peace Corps at 60' exhibition (2021) and partner for the Peace Corps Community Archive. Comparable as a small, mission-driven DC cultural venue.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@peacecorpsmuseum
• Facebookfacebook.com/MuseumofthePeaceCorpsExperience
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museum-of-the-peace-corps-experience
• Instagraminstagram.com/peace.corps.museum/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Museum of the Peace Corps Experience