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What helps make heritage organisations resilient?

John Davies, English Heritage

15th March 2013

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What the research involved

‘Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness’

• Understanding the factors that lead to resilience

• Based on interviews and research with leaders of 15 case study organisations involved with heritage

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Resilient organisations make best use of their assets

commercially Tips included:• Aiming to attract diverse income streams to

avoid dependence on any one source• Assessing risks and seeking to minimise them

by testing new products and services on a small scale before scaling up

• Sharing services and ventures with partners where this makes for more efficient delivery

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Case study of Hodsock PrioryHodsock Priory in NottinghamshireDiversifying income - through a wedding venue which now produces 45% of the estates income - the same as farming

Raising awareness - Developed an events programme which aims to hold an event at least once a month

Sourcing skills - Looking to establish a formal board structure to bring in wider expertise

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They recruit the right people at board-level

• Most of the organisations surveyed used a structured recruitment approach to ensure they had strong boards

• Board skills regularly audited and people recruited to fill gaps

• The most sought-after skills are financial acumen and legal and human resources expertise

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Beamish Open air museum in County Durham

• Teaches visitors about life in Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times

• Having events all-year round to move beyond reliance on summer visitors

• Introduced unlimited annual re-entry tickets, in response to customer research

• Half of income from admissions the rest from catering, retail and other activities

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Resilient organisations make best use of volunteers

They have a thorough understanding of:

• their volunteer base and what motivates them

• how to design volunteering opportunities tailored to different kinds of volunteer

• the training needs of volunteers and those that work with them

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The Woodland Trust• UK’s leading Woodland

conservation charity

• Collect information on supporter engagement to allow them to tailor offers and requests to levels of commitment

• Appointed a volunteer champion to lead the volunteering strategy.

• Detailed volunteer section of the website

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Resilient organisations are pioneers

• They recognise that their entrepreneurial activities challenge assumptions about what is considered usual practice. Examples of this are: – Charging for online access to digital material – Promoting a diverse range of non-heritage

activities on a sensitive heritage site

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Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in London

• Since 1980 BAC has delivered theatrical productions

from the 19th Century Battersea town hall

• Recently switched from using conventional theatrical spaces, to make the rooms of the building an integral part of the performance

• Important to maintain ambition to attract funders, even in difficult times

• Since 1980 BAC has delivered theatrical productions

from the 19th Century Battersea town hall

• Recently switched from using conventional theatrical spaces, to make the rooms of the building an integral part of the performance

• Important to maintain ambition to attract funders, even in difficult times

• Set up a commercial trading arm• Focus on cross-team working

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They plan ahead

Experiences highlighted importance of:

• Identifying new short-term opportunities (perhaps up to 12 months ahead) to sustain or develop the organisation – for example new funding, products or markets

• Changing business plans in response to short-term opportunities or risks– but avoiding projects that skew or change the organisation’s fundamental aims

• Reviewing legal status and considering the merits of alternative models (e.g. trust status, trading arm, outsourcing)

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Apsley Paper Trail Trust in Hertfordshire

A charity dedicated to the history of paper making. Owns the oldest mechanised paper mill in the world

• Planned to raise income from selling land. However, this fell through in the recession

• Able to keep operating through increased use of volunteers

• Used a corporate recovery consultant to create a business plan enabling the mill to keep operating till the land is sold

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They are visible and connected

Resilient heritage organisations are networked beyond their immediate local area and the heritage sector (and consider recruiting from other sectors). Networks include: – Umbrella associations – Trade associations– Other local groups– The Boards of other organisations

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Communicating: Evidence of lower social media use among

Heritage organisations

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Many factors contribute to resilience:

• Commercial engagement• Recruiting the right skills• Effective use of volunteers• Innovating• Planning ahead • Communicating (internally and externally)

Further information available at: http://hc.english-heritage.org.uk/HC-environ-resilience/