- This event has passed.
Conversations on the Commons: Membership…a must?
December 10, 2021 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Membership: A Must?
December 10, 2021, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
With Carol S. Ward, Executive Director of the Lexington Historical Society, and Dawn Estabrooks Salerno, Executive Director at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum
Does the membership model still work for 2022? Massachusetts Historical Society has just announced that they no longer have a paid membership; all donors are considered members. What is membership, and what does it mean to your organization and the people who are members? Is membership about money, or is it about something else, as well? If you run a membership program, how do you administer it? If you don’t, how do you raise funds? How do you get people to feel a connection to your organization? Do you have any ideas for membership benefits, or resources for reading more about membership models? We’ll discuss what works, what doesn’t, and the explore the meaning of membership in 2022.
This conversation will be moderated by Gloria Polizzotti Greis, Executive Director of the Needham History Center & Museum.
Registration is free. REGISTER HERE!
This Conversation will be livestreamed. We will do our best to monitor your questions and comments during the livestream. A recording will be publicly available in the Conversations on the Commons Archive.
-
- Gloria Polizzotti Greis been Executive Director of the Needham History Center & Museum since June 2002. She has worked in museums since 1985. She has also taught both Anthropology and Museums Studies at the college level, and had experience teaching in a museum setting with high school and elementary school classes. Dr Greis is a Needham resident. She holds a PhD in Anthropology, specializing in the archaeology of prehistoric Europe. She is the author of two books on archaeology; a book and three films on local history; several articles on history, archaeology and various other topics; and writes a weekly local history blog. She is Chair of the Needham Historical Commission, sits on several municipal committees and nonprofit boards, and is an elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
-
- Dawn E. Salerno is Executive Director of the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Under her leadership, the museum received an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant and a New England Museum Association (NEMA) Publications Award and realized its two highest ever annual appeals. She also serves on several New Bedford leadership groups including the Local Cultural Council, the Education Foundation, The Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts Corporators and NBCreative. Dawn has been a grant reviewer for the IMLS, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Connecticut Humanities (CTH). She has served on the boards of CTH and NEMA. Her more recent contributions to the field include co-editing “The State of Museums: Voices from the Field” and “For Love or Money: Confronting the State of Museum Salaries” (both MuseumsEtc, publisher, 2018 and 2019 respectively).
-
- Carol S. Ward has 20 years of collaborative leadership in for profit and non-profit management, financial oversight, fundraising, strategic planning, Board relationships and grant-winning cultural program development. Ms. Ward is an art historian with her BA from Mary Washington College, and two Masters Degrees, her first in Museum Education from the College of New Rochelle, and her second in Art History from Hunter College. Articles she has written have been published in The Magazine Antiques, The Historic House Trust journal, the American Alliance of Museums Magazine, Antiques Weekly and catalogs for the Bruce Museum, Morris-Jumel Mansion and Keno Auctions. Her book “Visions of America: The Morris-Jumel Mansion” was published in 2015 and she has recently appeared in the documentary on the making of the hit musical “Hamilton.”
Questions? Be in touch with Caroline Littlewood: commons@masshistoryalliance.org
Conversations on the Commons
Where people from Massachusetts history organizations get to vent, empathize, laugh, complain, think, collaborate, brainstorm, plan, and in general be up to no good.