There are a number of federal programs to fund research, but museums are not eligible to apply. For example, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council is a huge funding council, but that money is restricted to higher-education institutions. We assert that museums should be eligible for that kind of funding. If you can investigate that to see if it can happen it would be a huge step forward for our community.
On April 3rd, 2012. See this statement in context.