President’s Message April 2024

Happy Spring ALHFAM Members!

I am writing to you to share this quarterly report on the actions of the ALHFAM Board of Directors. The 2023-2025 ALHFAM Strategic Plan was adopted by the Board of Directors on February 13, 2024. It is standard operating procedure for the board to draft a strategic plan every couple of years, which is in line with the new president taking office. During the fall Board Meeting, the members of the board of directors meet in-person to review the goals and objectives of the current plan to determine whether those items have been achieved. During the four-day board meeting in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, last November, the board reviewed the 2021-2023 Strategic Plan. Our survey concluded that while some of the goals had been met through the work of the board and ad hoc committees, other goals were still in progress.

The purpose of a strategic plan is to produce a vision of where the Association is going and all that it wants to achieve, which is mutually agreed upon by the board of directors, who were elected by the membership. This vision should meet the needs of our members, our audience and at times, even those outside of our community. The plan should outline how it will obtain the resources to fulfill the vision. The vision and resulting strategic plan should be based upon the Association’s mission statement.

ALHFAM’s mission statement is, “The Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) shares practical knowledge and skills among those who make history relevant to contemporary lives. We draw strength from our diverse network of members, sharing experience, research and passion for participatory learning.” This formally approved statement details what our organization does, for whom and why.

In drafting the 2023-2025 ALHFAM Strategic Plan, the board identified four goals we desire our organization to accomplish in the future. The first goal is to enrich ALHFAM by encouraging and actively seeking out diversity within our membership and engaging multiple voices and perspectives to be a more well-rounded organization. To achieve this, we have selected three measurable objectives that will enable us to track our performance and serve as a guide for the work to be done. In the end, the board of directors realizes this is a lifetime goal to create an inclusive organization that seeks a membership that represents our diverse populations and encourages professional growth and participation at all levels of the Association. It is vital that our organization seek input from all voices and address our weaknesses so we can be better, both now and in the future. One of the first steps taken by the board was to create the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) Committee. This committee will provide advice to the board on new and existing initiatives and assist the conference committees in providing a good environment for everyone to learn and grow.

The second goal, to deliver unique content and resources for members and those involved with living history, farming and agriculture, was a direct response to meeting the needs of our members and our audience. We have heard our membership say they are unaware of what ALHFAM resources are available to them. Some of those resources are difficult to access because software and systems need to be upgraded. The board has made the upgrade of these systems a priority and looks forward to the launch of a new and improved ALHFAM Skill & Knowledge Base (A.S.K.) very soon, utilizing CatalogIt. CatalogIt is a powerful, intuitive and scalable application for cataloging, managing and working with collections and selectively publishing them to the Web. To upgrade the current platform, Sharepoint, was going to be far too expensive and ultimately not as intuitive, user friendly or accessible as we wanted it to be. A proposal by the A.S.K. Committee to invest in this new platform was accepted by the board, and work will begin soon to transfer over 25,000 documents and other ALHFAM resources to this new system. This is one example of how we want to meet the needs of the membership, but there is much work to be done on this front.

In order for ALHFAM to grow, not merely exist, we must ensure the financial stability of the organization. It is only through these means that we may continue to serve the needs of our members. Here is where we find our third goal. To accomplish this goal, we need to identify new ways of raising earned revenue, and the creation of a Development Committee can help to identify strategies and propose methods to make this a reality. One of our most valuable assets is our membership. We must effectively manage the membership program, identify when we have opportunities, and invest in methods that ensure we are delivering the resources that are desired by our members. Finally, we must create and follow policies of financial best practices. 

Our fourth goal is to ensure transparency and accountability through good governance practices and open communication. Our members have shared they feel disconnected at times from the board. We have listened to this feedback and have committed to providing regular communication about what the board is doing for the organization. It is part of our plan to publish regular summaries of the organization’s financial condition, membership data and annual accomplishments. Since we want the board’s connection to the membership to improve, the board will host yearly town hall meetings during the annual meeting and conference. In this way, we hope the membership can voice their concerns and desires for the organization. Surveys of the membership on things from the strategic plan to the successes of annual conferences, and the direction of the Association will occur at regular intervals and offer the opportunity for a variety of feedback. Finally, the board has begun drafting an organizational Standard Operating Procedures handbook. Through this process we have reviewed and have begun updating Board and Committee position descriptions and responsibilities, as well as identifying how else we may improve by comparing our SOP to other similar organizations.

ALHFAM’s Board of Directors is responsible for managing the organization and for setting its policies and future direction. This board is made up of members who have volunteered to serve the Association to the best of their ability. To make an organization like this work, we must all work together. To work together, we must agree on the vision for the future of ALHFAM. The board encourages our members to provide us with feedback on the Strategic Plan, which has been posted on the website for your review. If there are changes you would like to see made, please tell us. If there are additions you would like to see made, we welcome that feedback as well. Please help us serve this organization so we may grow and continue sharing practical knowledge and skills with generations to come. 

Best regards,

Jim Lauderdale

ALHFAM President