HSCRI Business Planning Initiative
Business Planning for Historic Site Sustainability
2009 Business Planning Project
The project in the news!
View the Business Plan Template and Collaborative Brainstorm
Read the project blog at http://www.pribusinessplan.blogspot.com/
In June 2008, the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission (RIHPHC), the state agency for historical preservation and heritage programs, received a Preserve America matching grant for $35,434 to conduct a Business Planning Project for the HSCRI. Preserve Rhode Island will work with the RIHPHC to conduct this project in summer 2009. The purpose of this project is to improve business practices for historic sites in Rhode Island.
This three-part project will employ five graduate business school and museum studies summer interns who will first complete business plans for five volunteer historic sites. The five sites selected for the project are the Babcock-Smith House in Westerly, Hearthside in Lincoln, Smith's Castle in Wickford, Linden Place in Bristol, and the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society in Kingston. Once the five individual business plans are complete, the intern team will develop a business plan template that wiill be made available to the HSCRI. The intern team will then explore various ways historic sites might reorganize themselves to become more sustainable historic resources, including: networking, affiliation, partnership, and even merger.
After the first phases of the project are complete, two facilitated workshop will be held in fall 2009 at the John Nicholas Brown Center at Brown University. The first will bring the five volunteer historic sites and their staff/board together to discuss the business plans and next steps for implementation. The second workshop will provide an opportunity to present the project to a broader audience, including the HSCRI. The dates of those workshops will be posted here as we approach the completion of the project.
This project is funded by a grants from Preserve America, The Rhode Island Foundation, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, and by contributions from each of the five volunteer historic sites.
A Conversation on Historic Site Sustainability
Held in September 2009
Business Plan participants and HSCRI members came together for a conversation about the future of Rhode Island historic sites.
"Worried about the sustainability of your historic site? Wondering if collaboration could be a survival strategy? Imagining that there are opportunities to improve your organization to become higher performing and more effective?
Preserve Rhode Island has recently concluded a business planning project for Rhode Island historic sites. Five sites from Rhode Island participated in the pilot project. PRI has developed a template for business planning for historic sites and has identified opportunities for historic site organizational collaboration.
Come prepared for some blue sky brainstorming about how the historic site sector of Rhode Island could become stronger and have a greater impact. Feedback is important for future research on historic site sustainability. We need your input!"