Hi Elisa,
There has been a lot of turnover in the group - we took pains several years ago to try to remove paid site staff from the Friends board. There was a brief period of time when one of our staff members was the Friends's treasurer. We wanted to avoid any potential problems that might have caused down the road. This allowed the Friends to become a more independent organization and to renew their relapsed 501c3 status. There are only a couple of board members (out of 6) who remain from that time.
We do not currently have a dedicated liaison with the Friends group. Usually our director or outreach coordinator attend the board meetings, but they are non-voting members, and their opinions are not given much weight (or, more frequently, just paid lip-service). The Friends are meant to be responsible for recruiting their own members, but as I mentioned above, this has not gone well.
Our main concern is their status as an independent organization, and what stepping in and trying to change things might mean. This is the only organization I have worked for, and I assumed all Friends groups were independent (as ours are). It seems like that is not actually the case. I would be interested to see how others have structured permanent support groups like this.
------------------------------
Samantha Matern
Interpreter
Villa Louis Historic Site
Prairie Du Chien WI
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 03-13-2020 02:52 PM
From: Elisa Kosarin
Subject: Concerns About Fundraising Group
Hi Samantha, can you provide a bit more information?
For example, who is the staff contact for the Friends group?
Who is responsible for recruiting new members?
Has there been a lot of turnover in the group - or are members getting burned out?
It may be that this fundraising model no longer works - or it may be that the group needs more structure and supervision. A little more background info will help.
Original Message------
Does anyone have any experience dealing with a fundraising partner that is no longer functioning effectively? Our Friends group has slowly become less of a help and more of a burden to our organization. Members are not having their memberships processed, events are planned and then either fizzle out at the last minute or are staffed by our own paid staff members when volunteers fail to show up, and very little money is actually being raised. Because so many people associate the Friends group with the organization, we have started to receive complaints. We are concerned that the Friends are damaging our reputation within the community.
Does anyone have experience dealing with a group like this? How did you handle it? What are appropriate measures that we can take to either get them back on track or even to overhaul the entire group? They are becoming a drain on our resources rather than an asset as we try to keep a good name in the area.
------------------------------
Samantha Matern
Interpretation Manager
Southwest Wisconsin Historic Sites
------------------------------