ASSOCIATION OF KING COUNTY HISTORICAL ORGANIZATIONS
SELF-ASSESSMENT WORKSHOP: BUILDING A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

This report is made possible through the support of the Heritage Resource Center, Washington State Historical Society

INTRODUCTION

The Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO) was founded in 1977 to promote communications, professional standards and funding among heritage groups within King County. Since its beginning, AKCHO has assembled an impressive list of accomplishments, and has become a major facilitator among heritage organizations, a leading advocate of heritage organizations, and a principle forum for heritage organizations within the county. Today, AKCHO has a membership of 68 organizations and 140 individuals.

On 22 October 2005, the board of AKCHO assembled for a self-assessment exercise. The goal of the workshop was to develop an understanding of the current status of the organization which could be shared by all board members, and based on this understanding, to begin the process of planning for the future. In this way, AKCHO would build on its strengths, address its weaknesses, and continue its tradition of service to its members.

REVISITING THE LONG RANGE PLAN WRITTEN IN 1999

A Long Range Plan was written in 1999, and has guided the governance and activities of AKCHO since that time. The plan consists of six objectives. As part of the self-assessment process, each objective was realistically analyzed in terms of accomplishments generated and challenges recognized/addressed. Results follow:

Organizational Development Objective: To coordinate historical and heritage organizations for mutual assistance and to set a good example for member organizations through AKCHO's own development process.

• Accomplishments:
  • Added an Advocacy Committee, strengthened the Program Committee
  • Increased the membership by using AKCHART as a recruitment tool
  • Formed collaborative activities
  • Started the yearly AKCHO Heritage Expo
  • Began quantifying memberships, services, etc. in order to measure and demonstrate impact
  • Improved communications through the website, e-mails, etc.
  • Spun off the Seattle Heritage Coalition to affect public policy and budget for the City of Seattle
• Challenges:
  • Recruiting non-board members to serve on committees
  • The Long Range Plan has not been readily recognized and understood within the organization
  • The recurring challenges of an all-volunteer organization
  • Lack of communications/transparency within the organization, because of a lack of board minutes, committee minutes, newsletters, etc.

Public Awareness Objective: To stimulate public awareness of and involvement in King County history and heritage activities, and to further public awareness of AKCHO's role in promoting those activities

• Accomplishments:
  • Began a successful annual Awards Program
  • Increased membership through AKCHART
  • Established an e-mail list of 80 addresses for sending out announcements
  • Assembled a board of accomplished people
  • The Advocacy Committee plays an important role in public awareness and involvement
  • Improved communications with the King County Council
  • The yearly AKCHO Heritage Expo provides public awareness and involvement
  • Established some media connections
• Challenges:
  • There exists no dedicated committee or speakers bureau to serve this objective
  • A strong name recognition of the organization does not exist publicly
  • The organization has not researched the potential of using existing tools (such as AKCHART, the survey, the AKCHO Heritage Expo) to make connections
  • Unclear of the target audience(s) of the organization; the issue of marketing vs. advocacy

Education Objective: To establish and promote minimum standards for the organization and operation of historical organizations

• Accomplishments:
  • Provides programs for member organizations
  • Started collaborations with other organizations which can assist the member organizations
  • Hosts the Idea Explosion as a forum of exchanging ideas and information among member organizations
• Challenges:
  • Finding the best meeting times to serve the greatest number of members
  • Need to design educational programming which does not involve meetings

Publications Objective: To promote public access to history and heritage resources in King County through documentation, collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation activities of its member organizations

• Accomplishments:
  • Established a program of presenting awards for publications
  • Distributes members' publications at the AKCHO Heritage Expo
  • Expanded mailings to members
  • Published a member directory
  • Completed a survey of member collections, publications
• Challenges:
  • Lack of manpower to keep directory, survey, etc. up-to-date
  • Lack of manpower and funding to produce publications

Financial Development Objective: To facilitate obtaining funds and grants for AKCHO to develop and implement programs, exhibits, publications and other activities and products that further the common historical missions of AKCHO members. Further, to develop funding sources and strategies for the benefit of the separate historical organization members of AKCHO, and to offer training in their use.

• Accomplishments:
  • For AKCHO
    • Revenue streams have been established through two annual events
    • Fees are charged for workshops
    • Successful grants have been developed (funding from 4Culture)
    • Some restricted gifts have been received
  • For member organizations
    • Fundraising workshops have been provided by AKCHO
    • AKCHO has lobbied for Hotel/Motel funds and for Washington State Capital Heritage Projects funding
• Challenges
  • For AKCHO
    • Difficulty of fundraising when the organization does not have a "place"
    • The organization has not defined itself, except in the context of specific projects
  • For member organizations
    • Finding new funding sources
    • Member organizations competing for the same "pot" of money
    • No private revenue streams exist which are dedicated to heritage issues/facilities/programs

External Support Objective: To assist in the development of public policy favorable to King County history and heritage at the county, municipal and state levels of government

• Accomplishments
  • Generated support for Hotel/Motel funding
  • Created the Seattle Heritage Coalition to change public policy
  • Groundwork in place for planning money for the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition Celebration in 2009
• Challenges
  • Arts organizations as effective competitors
  • AKCHO has a low public profile
  • AKCHO can't make a good argument for the organization's economic development benefits; the argument in support of AKCHO is for educational benefits
  • Historically, the patrons of history have been the elite, not governmental sources
  • The public doesn't understand what "history" is or what "heritage" is

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE ORGANIZATION

The discussion of progress made on the Long Range Plan, and the desire to plan for the future, indicated a need to carefully consider the existing strengths and weaknesses of the organization. These are summarized:

LESSONS LEARNED SINCE 1999

What are the organizational lessons which have been learned since the Long Range Plan was developed in 1999? Board members were asked to analyze the activities of AKCHO during the last six years, and to share insights into what had been learned, on an organizational level, during the period:

• Many of the challenges facing the organization today are recurring from 1999
• It is necessary to bring in "new blood," while still keeping the "old resources"
• Time must be budgeted annually to revisit a planning document and review progress and challenges
• The need to prioritize is required for decision-making and implementation
• The need to be realistic when setting goals will keep the organization firmly grounded
• It is essential to have a strategic mindset to anticipate issues coming in the future

THE NEXT STEPS FOR THE NEXT YEAR, IN ORDER OF PRIORITY

In order to address the challenges and weaknesses identified above, workshop participants identified six steps to take within the next year to further strengthen and bring maturity to the organization. For each step, tasks and target dates were outlined. Results of the exercise are summarized:

Step 1: Create a biennial planning document, including a budget and a definition of the organization

Step 2: Fully develop the website

Step 3: Create a membership recruitment plan to involve members in committees, events, projects and specific tasks

Step 4: Develop and implement advocacy for revenue streams from City of Seattle, King County and State of Washington to support (a) AKCHO members, and (b) the development of collaborations

Step 5: Develop press releases

Step 6: Investigate the feasibility of creating a paid staff position

*For each of the above tasks, a board member(s) must be identified as the lead. Such an individual could work individually, could work in collaboration with a fellow board member or volunteer, or could chair a committee to complete the task.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

This writer offers the following suggestions, to support and complement the considerable accomplishments achieved by the workshop participants:

Lack of a clear sense of "self:" The impression received during the workshop is that participants were not united around a common understanding of what AKCHO really is or means. This writer suggests that all board members carefully consider the mission of the organization, so that a common consensus and shared understanding is generated. AKCHO has the potential to be many things to many different organizations/individuals; it is the responsibility of the board to thoughtfully define, and communicate this definition, to create a firm sense of AKCHO's "self."

Confusion surrounding the Education Objective: This objective, as written in the Long Range Plan, is intended to inform/teach the membership about the standards and operations of heritage organizations. It is an important objective, which if successful, will result in a membership of professional, effective and efficient organizations. It is an inwardly-directed objective. Yet, during the workshop, discussion concerning the Education Objective would focus on working with teachers' organizations, classroom programs and student curricula devoted to local history/heritage; these are outwardly-directed activities using "education" in the more traditional sense. This writer suggests that educating teachers and students is not "the business" that AKCHO is designed to conduct under the Education Objective.

Both educating a membership and educating teachers/students are valid and important activities. However, thought must always be given to the intention of the Education Objective as written, in order to further the mission of the organization.

Apply the strengths of the organization: AKCHO has considerable strengths. These should be directly applied to the challenges which the organization faces. Often, boards of an organization are so concerned about the external challenges affecting the organization, that they forget about the internal factors which support the organization. This writer encourages all board members to recognize the existing strengths, and to use them as tools to further the growth of AKCHO.