[MassHistPres] Diane Gilbert: 501c3

Mon Aug 28 14:00:11 EDT 2006

Ms Gilbert, 
This can be made to work.  In my community of Newton, we have a 501c3
"Newton Historic Society" that works in partnership with the City of Newton,
which has a separate department under the Mayor for the Newton History
Museum, which is located in the Jackson Homestead.  This partnership has
worked well for over 50 years.    We have a Joint Board which is comprised
of the directors of the Historic Society and also the trustees, appointed by
the Mayor and ratified by the Aldermen.  (There is a good deal of movement
between the groups.  For example, I have been a director and president of
the Society and am currently a trustee.) The Society has Bylaws, the City
has an ordinance and we also have a joint operating agreement.  Both groups
provide operating funds.
This setup has been useful for grants and allows a good deal of flexibility
operationally.  Both groups have staff.  We sometimes go to through the
501c3 and sometimes through the City for grants, depending on the grant
agency's preferences and criteria.
The Society functions beyond the Museum's operations but that is its
principal focus.  For example, we're currently negotiating to acquire a 18th
C structure that would become an adjunct to the Museum but be owned by the
Society.
Cindy Stone (cstone at newtonma.gov)is the Executive Director of both the
Society and Museum.  Perhaps they could provide you with the bylaws and
other language if that would be helpful.
Good luck with your effort!
Russ Feldman

M. Russel Feldman, AIA
TBA Architects, Inc.
241 Crescent Street
Waltham, MA 02453
(781) 893-5828 tel
(781) 893-5834 fax
(617) 429-5033 cell
rfeldman at tbaarchitects.com

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Today's Topics:

   1. Thoughts and suggestions on 501 c 3 to manage town historic
      structures and landmarks, and for fundraising (Diane Gilbert)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:31:54 -0400
From: Diane Gilbert <d.m.gilbert at comcast.net>
Subject: [MassHistPres] Thoughts and suggestions on 501 c 3 to manage
	town historic structures and landmarks, and for fundraising
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID: <C118769A.531B%d.m.gilbert at comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="ISO-8859-1"

Greetings All, 

Some of us in Dartmouth are looking into the possibility of creating an
Historic Preservation Trust much like our local non-profit land trust.
This trust, as an independent non-profit entity, would partner with other
preservation organizations, federal, state, regional and local levels to
accomplish our own town-specific preservation goals.

Why attempt to form yet another preservation group in Massachusetts?  While
we value the efforts, the experience and the advice from many preservation
groups whose services are available to us, Dartmouth does not have a single
entity that is solely empowered to manage our historic buildings and
landmarks, to create cultural or educational centers or even museums
specific to Dartmouth?s rich historic legacy that may not have a place
anywhere else.  Moreover, Heritage Tourism is an important attribute to
economic development yet no single group at the moment is focused on this
exclusively and a Preservation Trust could help lead those efforts.

Dartmouth is a CPA community and we also have a demolition delay bylaw which
is under the jurisdiction of our Historical Commission.   By law, the
Dartmouth Historical Commission has its own set of responsibilities as a
municipal agency in the town.  With opportunities to obtain public funds
dwindling, private fundraising has become increasingly more important when
we find ourselves financially challenged and efforts to protect our historic
resources thwarted for so many reasons.

A 501c3 representing the town?s historic resources would be another entity
of advocacy for historic preservation, whereby CPA funds can be obtained as
well as grants.  This trust would spearhead any efforts to protect
Dartmouth?s historic structures and landmarks through such tools as
preservation easements, taking a pro-active and planned approach to saving
buildings from demolition BEFORE they are even at risk, identifying other
opportunities before it?s too late to save our historic buildings and
landmarks, hold restrictions, etc.

Over the past year, we have lost the Smith Mills Christian Church and the
Almy House to demolition, and who knows how many others we?ve lost or are at
risk.  We are much better at preserving open space and farmland than we are
at preserving our structures.  As we learned with the Almy House, a
breath-taking historic landscape without a structure defining an important
period in our history is just open space with no soul. It is our belief that
a local Preservation Trust or Society would go a long way toward providing
the leadership that we need to identify, maintain, nurture, and preserve
what little we have left that?s historically significant in our town.  We
would accomplish this with partnerships and with the community?s support.
And accountability would lead the way to results.

Any thoughts on the above much appreciated.  Also, regarding town-owned
historic properties and landmarks, could I hear from communities who manage
museums or cultural heritage centers in their towns??their successes and
best practices? How is this done?

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

Sincerely, Diane Gilbert
Dartmouth Select Board

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End of MassHistPres Digest, Vol 6, Issue 17
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