October 30 update:
- We have extended the deadline to midnight on October 31.
October 15 updates and clarifications:
- We have extended the deadline to midnight on October 26.
There has been a lot of interest in the survey, and this additional time should make it easier for everyone to get their responses in.
- We have added a copy of the survey questions to review in advance. Download them here.
You will benefit greatly by downloading the document and reviewing it so that you'll know whether you have any other information to gather before you start-in with the online version.
Since it's not possible to print out the pages of the survey online without first answering the questions on each page, we have added a file that you can download and print out.
The file is a PDF, and it will open in this window once you click on the link in bold above. When the PDF appears, you can save it to your computer and print it out if you wish.
When you are ready to type in your answers, come back to this page:
(That link takes you back to this page.)
- If you started the survey and had to stop before you finished, let us know and we can help you recover your "lost" data.
There's not an automatic way to start, stop for an extended period, and then pick it up where you left off. However, we may be able to help you since all of the data, including incomplete surveys, is saved.
Only completed surveys will be included in the report, so we want to make sure you can complete the survey.
If you have to abandon the survey after entering data and want to complete it, let us know.
- This survey is for all local historical societies throughout New England, both all-volunteer as well as those with a paid staff.
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Completing this survey does not automatically register you for the Idea Exchange on November 1. Learn more about the Idea Exchange and register here.
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Introduction and instructions:
Thank you for participating.
This is a landmark effort. We've not been able to find any resource like this for New England, or for any other region, for that matter.
It's also the only one we plan to do.
Here's how it came about: Last winter, in the midst of our annual planning meeting, someone on our board made the point that we should find out how other societies have addressed some of the issues we were facing.
Great idea. Very logical.
And with a breakdown by community size and whether or not the society was an all-volunteer society (like us) or had paid staff, we knew we'd be able to to compare ourselves to others with similar resources and opportunities.
Agreed. Let's go find out. Surely there's a report out there . . .
We couldn't find anything. Nothing that that covered New England, and nothing that provided the breakdowns that felt we needed in order to make the comparisons meaningful.
After talking with others, we realized that if we wanted the information, we were going to have to go out and get it. (And we certainly weren't in a position to pay someone to do it.)
We also knew that this would be a resource that many other societies would be able to use.
But we did it on the condition that this would be a one-time-only effort.
So after months of planning, here we go . . .
You will need about 30 minutes.
If you don't have that much time now, come back to this page later when you do. (If you start and then stop part of the way through, you'll lose all of your answers and have to start over.)
The questions cover . . .
- Facts about your society, such as the number of members or the cost to operate each year. These can be estimates or approximations if you prefer.
- Opinions about the issues and opportunities you and your board face.
- Insights into what you've found works for your society, such as the best program you've held recently or the best way you've found to recruit new members.
If you want to review this in advance.
As listed in the updates at the top of this page, we have received requests to be able to review the survey questions in advance. Since it's not possible to print out the pages of the survey online without first answering the questions on each page, we have added a file that you can download and print out.
The file is a PDF, and it will open in this window once you click on this link. When the PDF appears, print it out.
When you are ready to type in your answers, come back to this page (the one you're on), which is at
There are a few numbers you'll want to have at your fingertips.
Most of the questions are ones that any involved board member can complete easily.
There are a few profile questions that ask for specific numbers that you may not know off the top of your head, including the number of members you have today and the population of your city or town.
The profiles also cover basic financial information, with some breakdowns of revenue and expenses by a few major categories. There's also a question on the size of your endowment, if any.
These don't have to be exact, but you'll probably find it helpful if you have your year-end report handy in order to make it easier to come up with these round number estimates.
(We did debate whether we should list ranges instead. We tried it both ways, and quickly decided that it's much easier to fill in boxes than to pick from a long list of ranges. And since we're all are non-profit organizations that serve our local communities, we knew that this information wasn't a secret. It just wasn't in one convenient place.)
Here's what you'll get when this is all finished.
Societies that participate will receive a copy of all of the profiles. This will allow you to flip through them and compare your society to those in cities and towns of a similar size, as well as to glean ideas and insight from all of the societies that participate.
If you have questions now or at any point, please let us know.
And many thanks. Our goal is to build a helpful resource that we can all use. And ater months of work, we're excited to see this come together.
Lee Wright
Trustee--The Marlborough Historical Society
ideaexchange@historicmarlborough.org
P.S. We want to make sure that all societies have an opportunity to participate. Please contact those you know in other societies to let them know about this.
