Strategic Planning: America's Black Holocaust Museum
Over the last several weeks, NMBL Strategies has worked with America’s Black Holocaust Museum to begin developing a strategic plan. We wanted to offer an overview of what we have worked on so far. Organizations that have not seen the ins and outs of a strategic plan often don’t understand what goes into crafting a comprehensive strategic plan. To begin planning the future for ABHM, we have begun the process of listening to stakeholders. In today’s blog, we explain what goes into this listening process and what we do with that information to align the future of an institution.
What is a Strategic Plan and how is America’s Black Holocaust Museum involved?
America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) is undergoing a strategic plan right now as they are at a changing point for the foundation and are preparing to welcome the public to the reopening of the physical museum space located in downtown Milwaukee. A strategic plan is a 3-5 year plan that will align the future of the museum with its community, visitors, and donors with actionable goals and objectives. NMBL Strategies is working with ABHM to align the goals and objectives for the museum and create an action plan they can use to move forward with their physical space and virtual museum.
During this current phase, we (NMBL Strategies and ABHM) are working on connecting with the leadership, donors, contributors, and the community to hear about the museum. The objective of talking to as many stakeholders as possible is to hear what the community thinks of the museum. This allows us to gauge their strengths and the opportunities they could act upon. Our goal is to hear from as many people as possible in order to get a full picture of the museum and the educational role they hold. We utilize an online survey to create a similar environment to a town hall meeting. It allows us to gather as much information as possible from the community but in such a way that is convenient for the people taking this survey.
After this, NMBL will take all the responses and combine the thoughts and suggestions to help create goals and objectives to help position the museum for success in their community.
An essential part of our process is learning about the organizations we are helping. Stories are central to museums and their history, and we strive to learn the story of the museums we work with. Understanding the numbers and metrics behind a successful museum is important, but forgetting about the community, legacy, and story behind an institution is a big mistake. Below we share an introduction to ABHM’s story and we encourage you to read more of their story on their website.
History of America’s Black Holocaust Museum:
Born from the living room of their Founder’s home, Dr. Cameron’s, America’s Black Holocaust Museum stands as a cultural cornerstone of Bronzeville, educating thousands of schoolchildren, as well as local, national, and international visitors of all ages and backgrounds. Dr. James Cameron, who survived a lynching as a teenager in 1930, dedicated his life to helping America realize its promise of liberty and justice for all. Education is central to ABHM’s purpose: to promote the acknowledgment of African American history from pre-captivity to the present as an integral part of US history, Dr. Cameron believed that the truth would set Americans free and make real racial repair and reconciliation possible. The physical space of the museum was closed in 2008, but in 2012, a virtual museum was brought to life with over 3,300 web pages covering information from Pre-captivity, The Middle Passage, Enslavement, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and the Present. The extensive virtual collection attracts significant traffic from all over the country and serves as an impactful and highly accessible educational resource.
ABHM's new physical gallery space will soon open on the very footprint of the first building in Milwaukee's Bronzeville neighborhood. Located on the ground floor of the new Griot Building (named for Dr. Cameron), the new galleries will take visitors on a chronological journey through the Black Holocaust from 1619 to the present.
What’s next
As we gather this information and listen to many different stakeholders in the community, we are preparing to present the initial findings. These findings will outline to the team at ABHM the different perspectives the community and their shareholders have in respect to the museum. In addition to this, there is also demographic, visitor, and tourist data that we consider. After presenting the initial findings, we begin developing all of the feedback and data into actionable items and plans for the future of ABHM. It is our primary focus to make these items actionable and applicable to our client organizations because all too often, strategic plans are put on the shelf and seldom referenced. Strategic plans must be a guiding document for the future of organizations in order to allow them to efficiently and effectively achieve their mission and goals.
In 2021, we are crafting strategic plans for nonprofit organizations to help them achieve increased engagement, fundraising goals, and well-organized operations. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to have a focused strategy and guiding plan for the future. Reach out to NMBL Strategies today and learn how a strategic plan can help your institution.