Heritage Center receives grant from Summerlee Foundation

The Summerlee Foundation is supporting HHHC with sustainability grant funding.

The saying, “It takes a village to raise a child” applies to developing a museum as well. Any museum board and staff member will agree that museums need support from various sources to thrive. HHHC has been fortunate to receive funding from various area and statewide foundations to support the Heritage Center’s development. We recently received partial funding from The Summerlee Foundation to support our development of a sustainability plan, with the understanding that we would raise matching funds.

The Summerlee Foundation is a mission-driven, proactive organization dedicated to the support of animal protection and the preservation of Texas history. We are very appreciative of their support, and I am personally thankful for Rowena Houghton Dasch, Ph.D., executive director of the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin, who introduced me to an influential report published by The Summerlee Foundation.

After I was hired as the executive director for the Heritage Center, I began reaching out to other small museum and historic house directors looking for advice. One of the best pieces of advice came from Rowena. She advised me to read the 2015 report, Summerlee Commission on the Financial Sustainability of History Organizations, published by The Summerlee Foundation. Immediately I read the report, shared it with the HHHC board, and we have been referring to it ever since.

Gary N. Smith, president of The Summerlee Foundation, coordinated the report that details examples of thriving and suffering historical organizations throughout Texas and shares a recipe for sustainability. The Summerlee report impressed upon us not only the importance of financial support from community foundations and government entities but widespread community support from various sectors to further the museum’s potential for a sustainable future. It is imperative that we engage with community leaders and members to develop a heritage center that is relevant and compelling to a broad swath of the community. With HHHC in its infancy, the time is right to develop a sustainability model to ensure that our heritage center thrives.

Our first step towards achieving sustainability was to contract a consultant to help us build a sustainability model. We reached out to Gary and our friends at the Texas Historical Commission to recommend consultants and after reviewing several proposals we committed to working with Dr. Candace T. Matelic. Candace is a seasoned museum professional who specializes in museum sustainability and community engagement. She has led many museums and historic sites through struggling times and revitalized many from the brink of closure.

Candace quickly laid out a six-month work plan including meeting with community leaders and potential partners, hosting a community input summit, developing an interpretive framework based on community summit recommendations, and a culminating sustainability retreat for our board to commit to a long-range plan that will ensure financial sustainability and community engagement. In the short few months that we have been working with Candace we hosted a well-attended and informative community summit, started regular meetings with area non-profit leaders, set objectives for developing community programs, and began developing an interpretive framework. We are about to start planning our board’s sustainability retreat where Candace will guide us to develop a sustainability plan to lead us to our opening day and secure a solid future for the center.

To say our relationship with Candace has been beneficial would be an understatement. She has been an invaluable resource to me and the board. Candace has guided us, questioned us, and celebrated us through all the challenges and successes that come with developing a museum from the ground up. After five months of working with her we agreed to extend her contract to continue working with us for several more months. Without Summerlee’s grant funding to support our work with Candace, we would not be able to effectively prioritize and strategically plan for HHHC’s future sustainability.

Are you interested in supporting the Heart of the Hills Heritage Center?

We are actively seeking matching funds to support our sustainability and community engagement work. Contact Angela Kennedy akennedy@hhheritagecenter.com if you would like to support this project.