The right approach
Ohio Historical Society takes businesslike steps to improve its finances
Friday, August 13, 2004

Faced with shrinking support from state government, the Ohio Historical Society took the correct course by adopting an entrepreneurial management model.

This is a time of retrenchment for the nonprofit group that manages 60 sites statewide, including a museum and Ohio Village on the North Side. The society gets about 70 percent of its revenue from the state, but those dollar amounts have been declining. That reduction, combined with the group's weak marketing efforts and a slumping economy, caused a financial squeeze.

The results have been shortened hours at some sites and a sizable reduction in paid staff. In the past three years, the organization has dropped from the equivalent of 400 full-time positions to 278. Ohio Village, the re-creation of a Civil War-era town, is open only for special events and prearranged tours.

What shocked some supporters of the society is that amid this shrinkage, the group is adding 13 positions. The new jobs, however, are geared toward boosting attendance and membership and also drawing revenue from a variety of sources.

The changes are intended to boost paid admissions at the group's sites, attract government grants, expand fund raising, attract volunteers to replace employees and increase the society's membership, which stands at 9,300.

Eight teams of employees were formed to focus on ideas intended to generate fresh sources of money.

The teams presented their ideas in late June to professors from Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, who are now evaluating the proposals.

In addition, the business model aims to promote Timeline, the society's publication; increase interaction with schools; and advance sales of educational products and at the museum shops. The society also will be looking for commercial sponsorship of its Building Doctor workshops on renovation of older structures.

The society is a partner with the Ohio Board of Regents and eight other educational organizations in developing a Web site with resources and teaching practices for Ohio's social-studies instructors.

The bimonthly Timeline is adding 16 pages to its format and switching to a quarterly as part of an effort to increase its circulation and advertising.

Kathy Hoke, communications and media relations manager, said the organization hasn't tried hard enough to sell itself to Ohioans. Increased advertising and stronger promotion of sites around the state are planned.

"We decided we couldn't 'whiteknuckle' our way" through budgetary problems, she said. With new leadership in the person of Executive Director William K. Laidlaw Jr. came a new management approach.

All Ohioans benefit from a lively and financially strong historical society. State government won't be coming to the rescue.

The society's changes should be given time to work.

Copyright © 2004, The Columbus Dispatch

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