Sector 4: Assessment and Planning

Getting the answer to this question is
goal of the fourth sector.

Recognizing that the prioritization strategy Stacy Klingler and I have laid out over the past four weeks is technically an assessment process, there is still much more that can be done to assess your situation and plan future goals.  And, much has been written about strategic planning, including my chapter in the Small Museum Toolkit.  But in short, to move a museum forward, you need to know what assets you have, understand the gaps, identify what you want to accomplish, and outline the steps to get you there. 

Lucky for small museum folks, there are three organizations who want to help you in this effort and propel you to meet best practices.  The American Association for State and Local History, the American Alliance of Museums, and Heritage Preservation have developed assessment tools that help you put work in perspective, educate board and staff, kick start planning, and provide funding leverage. 

The Standards and Excellence Program for History Organization (StEPs) “is a voluntary assessment program for small- and mid-sized history organizations. The program, created by AASLH with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), encourages awareness and achievement of national standards.” This self-directed assessment process is a great way to get the ball rolling.

If you feel like the opinions of an outside professional and a more intensive self assessment process is what your organization needs, then you should look at MAP and CAP.

The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) “helps small and mid-sized museums strengthen operations, plan for the future and meet national standards through self-study and a site visit from a peer reviewer. IMLS-funded MAP grants are non-competitive and provide $4,000 of consultative resources and services to participating museums.”

Heritage Preservation’s Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) “provides a general conservation assessment of your museum's collection, environmental conditions, and site. Conservation priorities are identified by professionals who spend two days on-site and three days writing a report. The report can help your museum develop strategies for improved collections care and provide a tool for long-range planning and fundraising.”  CAP provides over $7,000 in consultative resources and services, sending a conservator and historic preservation professional (if applicable) on site. 

Ultimately, with an assessment in hand and an organizational commitment to keep moving forward, you will have board, staff, and volunteers on the “same page” which promotes efficiency and strengthens your chances for successful implementation of goals.  You also have a good benchmark to help you see when you’ve arrived at a goal.  You can look back and demonstrate for others where you’ve been which will fuel the new momentum you have.

And, you have a case to make to funders.  Do you need collections storage shelving? A new computer?  Funding for a museum educator?  Any one of these formal assessments offers excellent justification in a grant application, foundation proposal, or case statement for a potential donor.

With just one of these formal assessments in hand, you will know what kind of institutional planning you need – strategic or operational – and you will have a sense of what planning time frame you need.  To take the next planning steps, read “DIY Strategic Planning” in the Small Museum Toolkit, or tap the rich library of planning publications.  Here are a few to get you started. Good luck!

Recommended Resources

Alliance for Nonprofit Management

 

Bryson, John M. and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 2^nd Edition. San Francisco: Josey-Bass, 2005.

How To Do Traditional Brainstorming

Lord, Gail Dexter and Kate Markert. The Manual of Strategic Planning for Museums. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press, 2007.

Merritt, Elizabeth E. and Victoria Garvin, editors. Secrets of Institutional Planning. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2007.

McNamara, Carter. Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. Minneapolis: Authenticity Consulting, LLC, 2003.

Skramstad, Harold and Susan Skramstad.  Handbook for Museum Trustees. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2003.

Strategic Planning for Smaller Nonprofit Organizations

Working in museums for nearly 20 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has been a museum director since 2001. Cinnamon became CEO of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Before that, she was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service.  

An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit: Book 1, Leadership, Mission, and Governance

Carol Bolton Betts, editor for the Illinois Heritage Association, wrote an overview of The Small Museum Toolkit as part of the IHA’s Technical Insert series.  The IHA has graciously allowed The Small Museum Toolkit to share this introduction in seven blog posts during July and August. The posts will help you to get to know about the content of the Toolkit from an outside perspective.

The first volume of The Small Museum Toolkit addresses ways that small museums and other history organizations can take stock of their strengths and weak­nesses, with the goal of moving their operations forward while adhering to the highest standards. These groups must have effec­tive and ethical leaders, wise governance, responsible budgetary oversight, and expert management and conservation of collec­tions. Book 1 provides guidelines for attaining these qualities, and it tells why it is important to attain them.

Cherie Cook, Elizabeth Merritt, and Sara Gonzales lay the ground­work in chapter 1 by describing several important initiatives, many of which were developed with funding by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The authors describe, respectively, the Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations (StEPs), a relatively new project of AASLH; the American Association of Museums’ (AAM) Museum Assessment Program (MAP) and the Accreditation Program, the latter funded by AAM; and the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), which is offered by Heritage Preservation. These involve self-study and peer review, methods that can provide pathways to identifying and solving immediate problems in an organization—and sometimes preventing problems—while ensuring the organization’s long-term good health. These programs are also referred to in the other books in the set.

In chapter 2, Steve Friesen tackles questions that are important for the entire Small Museum Toolkit: What makes a museum small? How can we make a case for the small museum? While some might view the small museum in terms of its supposed dis­advantages, Friesen points to the many advantages of the smaller institution. Small museums may have small staffs and budgets, but the best of them can match—even exceed—the accomplish­ments of larger, better-funded museums with large staffs. Imagination, dedication, and the ability to turn on a dime characterize the effective staff members of a small museum. Small institutions can take advantage of the latest in training and technology to turn out well-conceived, well-mounted exhibitions. Reading about these qualities will make people associated with a small museum feel encouraged and proud of their work.

The authors of chapter 3, Harold Skramstad and Susan Skram­stad, define mission and vision statements and say that without well-reasoned, well-prepared statements—and without adhering to them—a museum cannot have adequate governance, plan strategically, mount meaningful programs, or attain best prac­tices. The Skramstads lay out principles that should inform the mission and vision statements, and they give sample documents that will aid staff in crafting their own. In chapter 4, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko discusses a low-cost approach to developing the all-important strategic plan. She presents a step-by-step outline for economical, do-it-yourself strategic planning, along with checklists, worksheets, and ground rules that will be particularly useful to those who guide the small museum.

Teresa Goforth, author of chapter 5, asserts that a museum of any size can create a successful governing structure and can draw from several models to do so. She describes the makeup of a desirable governing board and uses case studies to illustrate how such a board can be composed, developed, and maintained. Goforth details board responsibilities and structure, stressing the importance of following an ethics policy. In the final chapter of book 1, Katie Anderson compares the relationship between board and director to a marriage: it involves asking the right questions before embarking on the relationship and keeping the lines of communication open. Anderson lists the tasks of a board and its president, along with tips for the successful director. By working together and meeting the highest standards, she says, board and director can ensure that their partnership lasts.

Adapted from Carol Bolton Betts, “An Introduction to The Small Museum Toolkit,” Illinois Heritage Association, Technical Insert 177 (May-June 2012). As a volunteer, Ms. Betts has done editorial work for the Illinois Heritage Association (illinoisheritage.org) since 1982. She was an editor at the University of Illinois Press for twenty years, working primarily on books about art and architecture, film, women’s history, and subjects related to the history of Illinois. Earlier she served on the staff of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and taught art history at Villanova University and at California State University–Los Angeles.