Working on a Museum Board

For most museum professionals, we are the staff, on the ground, day-to-day, doing the everyday work. I'm currently serving as a volunteer on a local Historical Society's Board of Directors, while also serving as the part-time volunteer Archivist. In some ways, I feel as if I'm working backwards. I'm a program planner, an educator. At the historical society, I spend most of my time on fundraisers and in the archives. It's fun and rewarding - especially the new perspective on nonprofits.

The Board is a working Board, which means, we plan the programs, repair the artifacts, etc. We have two part-time, paid staff who book events for our rental space and keep the building open to visitors. The Board meets four times a year to discuss major issues, the budget, etc. Working committees meet on a more regular basis to get the work done.

Our most active committee is our trivia night fundraiser committee. We started this fundraiser as an attempt to jump start our fundraising activities. It was highly successful last year as trivia nights are incredibly popular in our area. This year we were moderately successful though due to changing to a later date, we had fewer tables overall. In my next post, I'll share a detailed plan on running a successful trivia night.