Year End Fundraising series coming later in the week

We have been researching year end giving for a while now, and are planing to share with you three long blog posts it.  We will explain why all Main Street organizations should undertake this activity, and include a long post about the mechanics including how to organize, whom to ask for help, and how to implement. The final post will provide a two month calendar for November and December to tell you exactly when to send out letters, post to Facebook, send e-newsletters and talk to donors as part of a coordinated campaign. This fundraising appeal is simple. You can do as much or as little as you have the time in the next six weeks. But at least try to do something towards making your pitch for support during the holiday season.  We will start our series on Thursday November 1. Look for it. 

Learning from Victor Horta’s house

Horta's Wacquez department store

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend six days with my husband in Brussels with the express intent of seeing as many Art Nouveau buildings as we possibly could. One of the highlights of the trip was a bilingual bus tour of the city with the local preservation organization ARAU. They offer a weekly bus tour to see a variety of neighborhoods where Art Nouveau architecture is in great concentration.

Victor Horta's Home and Studio 1898

Brussels has more than 500 Art Nouveau buildings, including the first one, the 1893 Victor Horta designed Tassel House (6 rue Paul Emile Janson, not open to the public). The majority of these buildings are in districts that were newly open at the turn of the century for residential development. Neighborhoods with high concentration of these houses are situated throughout Shaerbeek, St. Gillis, Ixelles and Uccle.

Horta's Tassel House 1893

We were able to visit inside three wonderful buildings on this tour: an interesting and innovative public school (Ecole Communale No. 1 of 1907 by Henry Jacobs) in Schaebeek; the Wacquez department store (now the Belgian Comic Strip Center) a Horta masterpiece of 1906, and the stunning single family home the Hotel Hannon, built by architect Jules Brunfaut in 1902.

Gym for the Ecole Communale No. 1

Located in far-flung parts of the city, the ARAU bus tour was an efficient way to see these pockets of wildly innovative homes and commercial buildings and visit inside the school, since it is not open to the public.

Ecole Communale No. 1 1902

On our own, we went to see the Victor Horta Home and Studio (built 1898) in rue Americaine 25 late one afternoon—it is only open from 2 to 5:30 Tuesday to Sunday. Even for a gray weekday afternoon in October, there was a line outside the house. The house is located on a typical residential street.

After being let inside, into what was the craftsman’s office, we were asked to deposit our coats, cameras and handbags at the cloakroom what was the former studio. Behind the coat check area, was the museum store staffed by one person who did an admirable job given the crush of business.

Horta House grill work

The house has undergone two restoration campaigns, one when the home was acquired by the Saint Gilles Commune, and opened in 1969. The second restoration campaign occurred when the Commune acquired the studio building next door in 1973. This campaign involved reinforcing the main stair, restoring the roofs, facades, gardens and creating the cloak room/shop area in the studio, which always had a separate entrance, stairway and circulation pattern than the house itself.

Letter slot Horta House 1898

The tour route is self guided. There are no audio tours, fancy brochures, no interpreters, or intrusive interpretive panels. The entrance fee is paid at a small temporary desk in the corner of the landing to the dining room where you handed a one color, credit card sized, folded map and guide for the site printed in French, Flemish and English. There is also a small map of other Horta buildings in the neighborhood. You are free to wander the house and spend as much time as you like. There are no velvet ropes or no guides in the property. There are security personnel one per floor—they wear street clothes—but they did not seem to play the role of the unformed museum guard who asks you not to touch.

Horta House Balconies 1898

The site has some but not all of its original furniture, but each room has appropriate Horta-designed furniture and lighting which is called out on an unobtrusive letter size Plexiglas table top panel. This panel is in French, Flemish and English and explains the use of the room and the provenance of each piece of furniture, including the fixtures (door handles, lighting). There are some glass cases with examples of casts of hardware originally made in the basement of the studio. These along with the drawings, were given to the metal fabricators to create for various metal pieces including ones made for this house.

Horta House entrance doors

Since the number of visitors is carefully controlled, it is not crowded. There is only one staircase available for visitors. This stair has the magnificent, arched, yellow stained glass skylight and famous whiplash curved balasters. It provides light into the center of the building, thus solving the age-old problem of dark center rooms.

Ecole Communale No 1. entrance

I found this visit to be inspiring. It was not just because the building’s interior was beautifully restored and there was enough furniture to satisfy anyone’s interest in Horta, but also because one was not limited by a velvet rope. You can get up close and see how the complicated whiplash-styled wood handrail was carved.

While the rooms were not crammed with furniture, they also were not set up on platforms, as they might be in a gallery. You could walk around each, as if they were in a home. Similarly the metal work throughout the house–the hinges, balusters, drawer knobs, door knobs, letter slots, door knockers and handrails–were sensuous and almost demanded to be fondled, which was permitted.

Horta House service entrance bell

Not allowing cameras or audio recordings inside also helped the flow of people in the domestic scale dwelling. There is so much written about the house. It has been extensively photographed in books and articles about Horta. One is there just to see it for yourself, to be present in the space—and acknowledge the building, interiors and furniture as if they are old friends—but not really. They are familiar but without personal knowledge. The visit then, was to imprint the space on the mind and in the memory.

The 2 story central gathering space inside Ecole Communale No. 1

Make Your Case: Triple Your Membership article in Main Street Now

MainStreet Libertyville survived a financial crisis by asking residents to invest in the organization

The September/October 2010 Main Street Now has hit the streets, and this issue is about local support. My article about MainStreet Libertyville is the featured article. Learn about how this 18 year old organization on the brink of financial collapse in 2007, asked area residents to support their program. Their amazing success in raising $88,000 in less than four months from 800 new members is truly astonishing. Downtown organizations nationwide can recreate their successes.

The first page of the article is below.

In October 2007, Board members of MainStreet Libertyville, Illinois, a 1997 Great American Main Street Award winner, realized the organization was on the brink of financial collapse. The month before, their annual fundraiser, Street Dance, was held on a “rainy and cold night. Attendance was down drastically and so was the revenue.” Street Dance’s net profits, which had been upwards of $60,000 in past years, fell precipitously to $2,000 that year.

MainStreet Libertyville raised over $88,000 from members in 2007

Adding to this looming deficit was the swift decline in Village support during the last three years. Since the organization was founded in 1989, the Village of Libertyville had made $50,000 matching contributions each year to support the organization’s revitalization work. In 2005, a new mayor and several council members decided to cut their support in half. A further reduction occurred in 2007 bringing the village contribution to $10,000. Between the losses in these two key revenue sources, the year-end projections indicated that the organization would need close to $60,000 to make it through December. All the Board members were understandably nervous. Without an immediate infusion of cash, the organization would not be able to put on its holiday events, and would most likely fold by the end of the year. Pam Hume, then Board President, said “I was determined that MainStreet would not go south on my watch.”

Read the entire article MakeYourCase MSN SeptOct 2010

Please send us your feedback about this article, or share your own successes in fundraising for downtown revitalization organizations.

A consequence of massive budget cuts–missing artifacts at the PHMC

The Pennsylvania Auditor General yesterday released a report saying that the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is missing up to 1800 artifacts in their care. It is not clear what prompted this assessment by the PA Auditor General or the timing of the release of the report, just days before the election. The PHMC staff fully cooperated with the audit. The last audit of the agency occurred in 1995.The report also includes the PHMC response to the audit (starting on page 39). PHMC disagrees with five of the 25 recommendations and findings and the Auditor General’s report responds to these comments.

The PHMC Director Barbara Franco in her response to the audit, noted that responsibilities of her agency to protect its artifacts, held in the public trust for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, have been hampered by “the unprecedented cutbacks in resources and staffing which directly imperil our ability to perform our mission.” (p 40).

The Associated Press picked up this report, and a press release has been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning on-line edition (I did not see it in the print edition.) Here is the link to the. story .

The Auditor General’s report can be found here

PHMC has had a rough two years. The budget cuts to the agency have been horrific. Its staff has been cut by close to half (from 433 in 2006-7 to 223 now), resulting in the closure of many of its historic sites because of the lack of paid staff or volunteer “friends of” organizations to keep the doors open for public visitation. Staff responsible for these artifacts have been cut too. Ms. Franco notes that the agency maintains 476 buildings at 24 sites, and has 1.3 million visitors annually.

In the cover letter to Governor Edward Rendell, the Auditor General found about ” lax oversight” and “physical inventories that are not conducted properly or routinely.” The report goes on to say that The State Museum (under the PHMC jurisdiction) lacks authority over the curators responsible for 4.5 million artifacts (4 million are archeological collections), collected over 100 years in the PHMC collections. Like many museums and historic sites, there are still a manual card inventory system at PHMC and some but not all of the collections since 2000 has been computerized.

The Auditor General also found “inadequate preservation and security of objects, that exposes artifacts to possible damage and loss.” Artifacts are not stored in proper environmental conditions. They recommend reducing the number of artifacts held by the agency “through already existing channels and procedures.” Franco notes that the Collections Management staff spend more time on deacessioning activities than accessioning. A director of development is suggested as way to gain more funding for artifacts preservation. The Auditor General suggests that no new artifacts be accessioned until the backlog of more than 5100 objects not yet inventoried is cleared up.

The report says that the agency must take a “forward-looking approach to improve operations and ensure proper preservation of Pennsylvania’s historic past because the Commission is faced with looming challenges such as reduced funding for operations, an increased volume of artifacts, the withholding of capital project funding, and the anticipated retirement of critical personnel.”

The anticipated future as laid out here by the Auditor General is bleak, coming on top of the draconian cuts already made to the Commission in the past two years.

Ms. Franco notes that the agency is embarking on a new strategic plan which will take into account the massive budget cuts over the last two years. In this plan she says they will consider “closing and finding alternative uses for selected historic sites and museums, developing a plan for downsizing the collections, reviewing public programs and re-tasking and re-assigning the surviving staff to active sites.” p 56.

In the past the agency has “placed” 17 of the historic properties its owns with other organizations, presumably “friends of” organizations and the like. Of the remaining 23 sites that the Commission operates, another 11 are in the process of being “placed.” See Appendix C.

The report is not long, 77 pages, and offers three findings and 25 recommendations to improve the commission’s critical role in protecting Pennsylvania’s past. I urge you to read the complete report of the Auditor General.

Worrying about our own history

I was reminded today about the fragility of the historic preservation movement.  Tony Wood and others in New York City have been working for several years to create a repository about the local historic preservation movement itself called the New York Preservation Archive Project (NYPAP).

They have an impressive web site, and are working very hard to gather the archives—the physical files and oral histories—of a generation of people just a bit older than me. These women and men were the pioneers of the battles to designate, research, identify, and preserve countless landmarks in New York City starting in the early1960s.  One part of the NYPAP web site —the Memory Collection Project–asks for personal reminiscences for some of the key preservation figures who have died in recent months. These names were poignant to read.

Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Caanan CT. A modern landmark, the building is about as old as the historic preservation movement itself

I call these people the first generation of professional preservationists. Having graduated from the illustrious Columbia University historic preservation graduate program in 1981, I was then–15 years after the founding of the program by James Marston Fitch in 1966– one of 40 people taking jobs at SHPOs, city preservation offices, and at local Main Street programs just then starting in six demonstration states.  Our elder statesmen and states women were the first to picket and rally to get local preservation ordinances passed in pioneering cities. They also created the statewide and local preservation nonprofits and government agencies after the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966.  Many of these first generation pioneers have long since retired.  Each day it seems someone whose name I know, or heard speak early in my career, is being memorialized in the NTHP Forum for their tireless work throughout the 1960s or 1970s.  Collecting the personal papers and oral histories of these pioneers makes sense to me.  Without scanning the relevant personal papers of these luminaries, there will never be a record for the next generation to use and learn from.

Mt. Vernon which Ann Pamela Cunningham and her band of ladies saved in 1854

In fact the New York Preservation Archive Project is holding a workshop on October 12, 2010 to evaluate archives about the preservation of buildings or neighborhoods.  Documents can be scanned and oral histories will be taken at the meeting. It will be held at the Neighborhood Preservation Center on 232 East 11 Street NYC 10003

Such informal meetings to scan documents or speak to the camera for an archive is the only way a grass-roots movement could create a nuanced record of events that transpired in relatively recent history. While newspapers may have recorded the first draft of the events as it is often said, the personal papers, and reminiscences will bring more subtle understanding of the true causes and impact of these individuals have had on our cities.

Milwaukee Museum of Art, a modern landmark by Santiago Calatrava

Many people active in the preservation movement have at least one “Waterloo” story or better yet, some amazing success of which they are most proud throughout a thirty year career.  Many of our elders, except if they are architects or attorneys, were likely to be amateurs who loved old buildings or the neighborhood in which they lived. They created careers for themselves in the field from their love of history long before there were graduate programs in the discipline. They joined with others to create laws, processes and organizations to protect these locations over years of painstaking grass roots organizing.

There are a few preservation colleagues from my class at Columbia who still work in the field. I call us the second generation of preservation professionals.  But most of us are within ten years of retiring too. Who will take our place? I understand that there are half the number of Gen X or Gen Y than Baby Boomers.  This is a worry for another day.

I believe that the work of the New York Preservation Archive Project is important. I hope their methods are emulated here in Philadelphia and elsewhere across the country to collect stories about the people of the local preservation movement.

New downtown training workshops available

This summer, I worked with state coordinating programs in Missouri, Minnesota and Delaware to develop some new training programs for local Main Street programs to meet their specific needs.  See if any of these issues are facing your downtown organization.

 

The majestic Bala Theater in Bala Cynwyd PA--Egyptian Revival at its best

 

Growing Major Gifts

Mounting a capital campaign to raise vast sums to save or restore an historic building in town is hard work for over many years for any Main Street organization.  In this session you will be introduced to the components of a capital campaign: donor cultivation, the ASK, and stewardship of the donor. We will talk about developing prospect files and information you will need in those files.  You will learn about the five different parts of “the Ask,” which is the “in person” approach to a potential donor to support your project. We will conclude with a short group exercise:  a piece of improvisational theater to show you how to do the different parts of  “the ASK.”

 

Upper floor doorway at the Bala Theater

 

Grow Your Ambassadors: Keep Former Board Members Involved

Board members rotating off your board are an often overlooked resource for many Main Street organizations. This workshop discusses a variety of methods, both formal and informal; to retain past Board members’ accumulated wisdom and good feelings about the organization so your ambassador corps grows for the good of the organization. Recent research and best practices for retaining the hearts of these good natured people, who have nobly served the local Main Street organization over the years, will be reviewed. We will show how and why to develop short individual assignments for retiring board members, as well as the Pros/ cons of establishing a formal advisory board or past board council. This workshop includes one group exercise, a resource packet of information including articles, forms and a bibliography.

 

Egyptian Revivial Bala Theater in Bala Cynwyd PA

 

Board responsibilities and the IRS

Recently the IRS completely redesigned the 990 form to collect much more information about nonprofit governance practices.  Main Street organizations need to understand these expansive and highly technical changes and what information must be submitted. We will review the pertinent IRS 990 form questions and definitions, and provide sample policies and documents so that you understand the IRS concerns and be able to bring your organization into compliance.

 

MainStreet Libertyville IL event Let's Wine about Winter. photo courtsey MainStreet Libertyville

 

More Members: More Revenue

For most Main Street organizations, membership is the first form of fundraising undertaken, but it can be a potent resource for expanding the organization’s financial base.  A case study will be presented about MainStreet Libertyville IL; whose 1100 members now supply 75% of the organization’s operating revenue. We will describe how they acquired, developed and renew their members in detail, so you can recreate their successes.   A resource packet of information, including the feature article from September/October 2011 Main Street Now is included–it has not been published as of this blog post, but will be out shortly.

If you are interested in any of these new training programs for a conference or special workshop, please contact us to learn more.  Thanks.

“Like” us on our new Heritage Consulting Inc. Facebook Fan Page!

We are trying to move all of our Facebook social media postings from a personal page to a specific Heritage Consulting Inc. Fan Page and hope you will move along with us.  Please “Like” Heritage Consulting Inc. by clicking this link to our new Heritage Consulting Inc. Fan Page.

We will better integrate our blog postings, and changes to web site through the Fan Page, so you can learn more about activities, news articles, news letter offerings, interests and new content.  Thanks in advance for your support of the new Heritage Consulting Inc. Fan Page.

Thousands of charities “at risk” of losing tax exemption according to IRS

Thousands of charities that are “at risk” of losing their tax exempt status according to the IRS. These charities may lose their status because of new regulations, that require all exempt organizations, no matter the size of their budget, to file an IRS informational tax return called an IRS 990 form. The new requirements were passed as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

The IRS has created  a list of all of the charities at risk of losing the favored 501 c 3 tax status on their website. This is the link. http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=225889,00.html.  You can look up your state on their list, and each charity is listed alphabetically. Use the excel spread sheet rather than the PDF document because you download and  sort any of the fields on the excel spread sheet making it easy to look up your favorite charity.  I fooled around with this list in May and found some organizations that I knew, so it is worth checking.

The organizations at risk of losing their tax status have not sent a 990 return in the last three years. Many smaller nonprofits, especially those with revenues under $25,000 may not realize that they now have to file with the IRS. They were not required to send these forms in the past. Small charities may not to know they need to file these forms.  The form however, is  a relatively simple 8 question postcard called the IRS 990 N form for these small organizations.

The IRS is giving the charities on their list until October 15 to file the necessary returns.  If you have a favorite charity, take a few minutes to look them up on this list.  If you DON’T see their name, that’s good! If your favorite organization is on the list, ask their Executive Director or a board member about it.

The IRS has a FAQ on the bottom of their web page that explains how to fix any errors and offers additional advice.

The IRS will supply a list later this year of all the organizations that had their tax status revoked.  If they wish to accept charitable donations, organizations with revoked tax status must go through the whole form 1023 process all over again and pay required fees.

Check the list.

First quarterly Heritage Consulting Inc. newsletter launched today

Heritage Consulting Inc. Quarterly Newsletter issue today

Thanks so much for the encouraging comments today from my Main Street and preservation friends around the country about the new Heritage Consulting Inc. quarterly newsletter.  If you are not on our mailing list, please sign up  here.

Heritage Consulting Inc. Quarterly Newsletter for Sept 2010

If you want to read the quarterly newsletter, check out this  link  http://email.tactiledesigngroup.com/T/ViewEmail/r/05CF2113DCED41DE

Our aim is to bring interesting research, articles and content to our friends and clients four times a year.  There are lots of links in our articles to outside sources, as well as other articles and content on our blog and projects we have done that are listed on our website.  Feel free to make your comments on our newsletter, blog or web site. We would love to hear from you.

Article in our current newsletter

Resident caretakers at historic sites

The New York Times this past week had a story about the new resident caretakers at Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house on Walden Pond in Concord Massachusetts. The article is called “Keeping Mr. Emerson’s House.”

The young couple in the story are responsible for cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, doing minor repairs) as well as yard and lawn work in exchange for free rent. They open the house so that docents can provide tours.

This arrangement is pretty common throughout the nonprofit owned house museum community based on my research for my book  New Solutions for House Museums and travels over the years. This is such a common arrangement, that I decided against including it as a case study in the book. Instead I focused the case studies on lesser known options for new users or uses for historic sites.

Franklin Township owns five historic sites that are managed by the Meadows Foundation under a master lease.

In New Jersey, the Meadows Foundation operates five historic houses, all acquired by local government for their historic character and for their open space values over the years using New Jersey Green Acres funds. These houses were restored with many grants from the New Jersey Historic Trust a remarkable record totaling almost $2.5 Million dollars over the years. The owner, Franklin Township matched these funds dollar for dollar. The Meadows Foundation has a long-term master lease with the township to open and operate these sites. The nonprofit organization was founded more than 30 years ago to save one house, but has gone on to manage these properties for the township.

New Jersey Historic Trust funded the restoration of the Wycoff Garretson House

The Meadows Foundation advertises their resident caretaker openings on their website, and this is what they say on their website about the resident caretaker responsibilities.

“If you enjoy history and are handy at dealing with the problems of living in your own residence, this might be an opportunity for you to put the “Care” in Caretaker. Each Resident Caretaker must look upon their historic site as they would their own property. These historic homes are a part our National Heritage and irreplaceable. By taking up residence in a historic house, you become a part of its history. As Resident Caretaker you would become one of the Meadows Foundation’s ambassadors to the public.”

Wycoff Garritson House, Franklin Township

Each of the five properties has its own flyer to advertise the resident caretaker opportunity when available.

For the Van Wickle House, now available in Somerset NJ, the flyer says:

“In effect, you are the “Super” of your site and must deal with any problems that may occur there. You would be an employee not a tenant. You would not be entirely on your own either, as there is a House Committee and Chairman for each house. If you are interested in living in an historic home and are particularly skilled at maintaining or repairing things, there may be opportunities to receive income to off-set the housing fee. This would entail taking on clearly defined small projects at your site. This would not be deducted from the housing fee, but paid to the Resident Caretaker. As with all historic buildings, there would be some restrictions, e.g., no flames of any kind, no smoking or pets, etc.”

The Meadows Foundation is looking for a resident caretakers for the The Van Liew Suydam House

Right now the Meadows Foundation is advertizing for three resident caretakers.

1. The Van Wickle House, a 1722 wood frame Dutch Colonial house, the first property the organization restored.  The Van Wickle house is available for third-party rental, including weddings, receptions, holiday parties and corporate meetings.
2. Tulipwood, 1892 a wood frame Dutch Colonial Revival style house. Like the Van Wickle house, it is available for third-party rental, including weddings, receptions, holiday parties and corporate meetings.
3. Van Liew Suydam House, a farmhouse from 1875, restored within the last two years.    The organization is currently in the process of restoring the house for community use, eventually serving as a library, fine arts gallery, and meeting space.

All of these properties were open on the second Sunday of the month, but these open hours have been suspended until further notice. We suspect that the lack of a resident caretaker necessitated this action.

The Van Liew Suydam House in Franklin Township NJ

A recent blog post by Max van Balgooy Director of Education and Interpretation at the National Trust for Historic Preservation posed an interesting question asking his audience about their thoughts about this practice.  I am wondering if there will be a spate of comments about whether resident caretaker positions are wise, given that untrained people (like the young couple mentioned in The Times article) are responsible for general maintenance and cleaning of the National Historic Landmark and its artifacts.  Resident caretakers are not curators, registrars, conservators, the people usually charged with some of these responsibilities.

Grumblethorpe in the Germantown section of Philadelphia has long has an apartment for a caretaker

While a trained specialist doing the dusting for example, might be the ideal, in practical terms, nonprofits with minimal budgets to manage these sites are better off having a live in caretaker than no one at all, if for no other reason than security.  A person is far better protection for a historic site than an alarm system.

Painting and other maintenance tasks are best to stop small problems from turning into larger and more expensive issues

In the case of the Meadows Foundation, each resident caretaker pays rent which may offset the chores undertaken to maintain the property. In essence, the caretaker provides cash flow for the organization. While all of the Franklin Township properties were well restored at the outset, there still will be minor repairs needed—ask any old home owner about maintenance.

In my view it is far better to have someone who lives at the property to take care of these small maintenance items when needed. This is far better than waiting for a committee to meet, allocate scarce funds when the property is rarely open. I would prefer that these small or routine maintenance items be completed when the problem is minor, rather than have them linger or escalate into a full-fledged preservation or restoration nightmare. People living in a historic house museum can mitigate against insidious problems, such as a leaky drain.

In my travels I have seen so many historic house museums that have collections with little provenance to the site.  While the collected furnishings may include quality antiques, they have been collected and assembled by others sometimes z(or not) with a furnishings plan that might reflect the tastes of the key owner.  For these sites, with collections not owned by the historic figure memorialized by the house, regular attention by a resident curator is far better than irregular treatment.

The Hageman Barn managed by the Meadows Foundation is being converted into a party space with new catering kitchen

Resident caretakers provide the means for many of these sites to have at least a fighting chance to be open regularly and seen by the public as is the case for the Meadow Foundation properties. They are open one Sunday a month and for special events. Without these resident caretakers these properties would likely not be open regularly.