Planning, Governance & Finance

Planning

Understanding the mission of your organization and what it hopes to achieve sets a crucial baseline that informs your historical collection activities. Your mission describes your organization’s unique purpose and gives it focus, and activities that the organization undertakes should support the mission. Strategic planning is a consensus of vision that provides the map for supporting the mission by prioritizing goals and objectives and assigning responsibility for meeting deadlines. The American Alliance of Museums has helpful guidance about the importance of missions and plans and how to craft them.

Collecting institutions have the responsibility of preserving the historical collections entrusted in their care and planning strategically for preservation work is crucial. This can be incorporated into the broader strategic plan for the organization or be a standalone plan. The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) provides information about preservation planning, tips on how to assess collections for preservation needs, and how to set priority actions for preservation.

Nonprofit Board Guidance

The Vermont Attorney General has guidance for nonprofit boards, and Common Good Vermont has some excellent general information on running nonprofit organizations.

Financing

Funding is essential for the preservation of records, enabling you to buy supplies and equipment as well as potentially funding additional staffing or larger projects. To ensure an ongoing commitment to the preservation of archival materials and to better track expenses, a budget line for records preservation, even a small one, should be part of the annual budget.

Fundraising is another option for raising funds for special projects; check out the Vermont Historical Society’s resources on fundraising and development and the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)’s leaflet on fundraising basics for local history organizations.

Grants can be sought for expenses beyond what the annual budget allows, and the tracking of archival expenses, as well as that ongoing administrative commitment, can help build a case to present to potential grantors. For information about grants, see our Grant Opportunities page. To learn more about the grant writing process, you can view the grant writing basics webinar by the Rhode Island Historical Records Advisory Board and the video on demystifying grant writing by the South Carolina Historical Records Advisory Board.

Need more ideas for funding your collections activities? AASLH has 101 ideas for new revenue and tips for improving financial management. Connecting to Collections Care also has a webinar on funding for collections care.