At last night’s Annual Meeting, we welcomed in Superintendent John Shepard from Painesville City Schools to talk with us about the history of education, and history IN education. While we were all surprised by his pop quiz (no fair!), it was even more amazing to hear how the method of teaching has changed over the years, but that the subject matter really hasn’t. After a great dialogue and questions on the future of education, social studies in the classroom, and inclusion in the community, we began our business meeting.

Annual Meeting 2016

Check out our current Annual Report here.

From our Executive Director, Elizabeth Connor:

We’ve been working very hard on our financials not only internally but externally as well. When I started, I took a look at our funding base. I listened to feedback about our membership base, our number of sponsors, and our long term funding. These three aspects are the foundation for an organization’s sustainability. They lead directly to community perception and support, two things that we have worked, and succeeded, to increase. In looking at these numbers, I found that between 2010 – 2014, our membership base decreased from 669 members to 357.  As of today, we are sitting at 452 members – the first membership increase we have seen since 2010.

One of the biggest opportunities brought forward by the board was looking at our corporate sponsors. We had not done an annual, coordinated ask before and we were missing out on potential dollars to support our programs and events. As I was sitting on the lawn of Blossom in early summer, I had a Eureka moment – if the Cleveland Orchestra can do an Annual Guide full of sponsors, why can’t we? We immediately set the guide into motion for the 2016 year. We offered standardized sponsorship levels with an increase of 15,000 impressions for each of their ads. We asked you all to guess the dollar amount that the Guide you are holding is worth. Any guesses?

The Guide is worth $37,970 and 12 new community sponsors. Our average sponsorship income in 2014/2015 was $13,275. In 2016, we are already sitting at $40,070 income and that number is still growing today.

Long term funding is a more extensive opportunity. As the funding is long term, so is the strategy. The first areas I mentioned certainly play their part in this, but so do endowments and preservation funds. This evening, the Board approved “The Value of History” statement set forth by the Smithsonian. In it, history is deemed essential in 7 different ways – to ourselves through personal identity and critical thinking skills, to our communities through strong, resilient communities and economic development, and to our future through engaged citizens, leadership, and legacy. When we look at those essential pieces of history in our daily lives, we see the opportunity for continuous funding long into the future. We are on our way to traveling that path and in 2016 moving forward you will continue to see actions that focus on those sustainable funding activities.

Already in 2016, our first two major events Déjà vu and Women’s History Month Luncheon exceeded previous years’ income. We have already surpassed our rental income budget for the year and just yesterday we sold out our Mother’s Day Tea. All of these items lay the framework for successful operations, and allow us to focus on activities that are going to have an ongoing impact.

To highlight that, you’ve already seen our collections go online allowing us to double our research requests. Since 2013, we have licensed and provided research of our collections from just over $1,000 in 2013 to nearly $2,500 in 2015. To reach the next generation of history enthusiasts, we’ve launched our first Scout Jamboree this summer. We are working on partnerships to develop online learning classes, and have demonstrated our worth to city and county departments. This year, we have a stronger tie with our government administration through city event sponsorships, county grant assistance, and a state appropriation that finished our elevator in January. In addition, I want to draw your attention to our first Outreach and Membership Week. We are bringing our programs, exhibits, and talent to 6 different Lake County communities for free programs that will highlight not only our mission, but will engage future members, donors, and supporters. This week is part of an ongoing community engagement initiative – and make sure you sign up for it in your next newsletter, paying particular attention to the Speakeasy Party in Downtown Willoughby.

We talked a lot about numbers this evening and while our mission is always first and foremost – we do require all new programs/events proposals to highlight how they serve our mission of preservation and education – we could not preserve our 30,000 pieces or provide our programs without these numbers.

Dick Frey filling out his Pop Quiz

Dick Frey filling out his Pop Quiz

From our Board President, Josh Strickland:

Since last April, we have continued many changes for the Historical Society.  We completed a major renovation to the Center making large portions handicap accessible for the first time. We were able fix our plugged sewer ensuring that it and its contents continues to flow out not in!  We opened the general store in the Pioneer School Village bringing a new educational elements to that program. With the County’s assistance we have secured funds to replace our aged, failing boiler system which should be completed in the next two months. We worked with the City of Painesville and the Downtown Painesville Organization to reinstall two historic markers that had been removed allowing the public to once again learn of Lake County’s important heritage.

We have created new exhibits, including the Formation of an Election exhibit in the South Wing, launched a new website, and for the first time ever put our collection online massively increasing our reach and allowing the public worldwide to understand the depth and breadth of our wonderful collections.  We launched a new diversity initiative with a program on Martin Luther King, Jr. and will follow that up with Milton Clarke program with Unionville Tavern in June.  We had a review by the American Alliance of Museums who gave us a report detailing items we need to complete for their accreditation.  We licensed our photos and other materials to TV shows and films.

We continue to educate the children and adults of Lake County hosting new programs and events such as last year’s salute to soldiers event and a variety of new adult and youth education 1-day programs while continuing our Pioneer School Programs under our your education director Tonya’s supervision and our popular dine around and ladies who lunch adult programs.

I remain confident that we will continue to achieve the Society’s mission and be a model non-profit in Lake County.  We will continue to broaden our connections and form more collaborations enabling us to spend our resources wisely, reach more people, educate smarter and more efficiently, and build towards established relationships that will allow us to better accomplish our mission.  We will continue to raise funds towards completing our capital campaign to complete the next phases of construction to the reception area, the porch, and installation of the 2nd floor lift among other projects.

Awards Ceremony:

Morris and JoshLois HarringtonFollowing our presentation, we moved into our awards ceremony. For 2015, we were ecstatic to present Morris Beverage, III with Board Member of the Year due to his dedication to the society through obtaining sponsorships and community partners. We also presented two of our very deserving volunteers with Volunteer of the Year for 2015. Those two ladies were Lois Harrington, the backbone of our internal housekeeping and baker of our Pioneer School johnnycakes, and Dorothy Dunlap, our Master Gardener who has worked tirelessly to beautify and plan our museum’s landscaping full of native and historic plants. Congratulations to these three wonderful individuals – we’re so happy you’re with us!

Board Member of the Year: Morris Beverage, III

Volunteers of the Year: Lois Harrington, Dorothy Dunlap