Eaton County Genealogical Society - Long Term Planning

Here are some of the ideas we discussed during the morning of the workshop.  We plan to add to these ideas as we get them!

Ideas discussed in the morning

ECGS Ideas

Have open hours that can fit working people’s schedules on a regular basis.  For example, one evening a month; adding a 4-hour afternoon shift; change a morning shift to afternoon or late afternoon shift.
Offer a one-on-one assistance class periodically.
Put our meetings on the library website.  Check with other Eaton County libraries about linking and/or posting items with them.
Make a chart of what information is on the computer and what is on the external drives.  Post this in our room and also on the website.
Give one Quest to new non-members so they can see what the newsletter is like.
Have some type of ‘Volunteer Appreciation’ activity, such as pizza get-together.
Try to find a list of researchers we could refer people to when someone needs more than we can give them.  Check with GenWeb?
Find and create a list of contacts for townships to refer people to when they need more specific local information.
Create role-based email addresses  such as President, V-President.. etc., which would prevent having to reprint and update individual emails in pamphlets and such.
In addition to member pamphlet, create business cards to give out.  On the front, have the Society name, address, open hours and contact person/info.  On the back, give some quick facts, officers, projects & meeting dates.  (Note from Sherry – if we put officer names in, they would have to be updated.)
Have additional events (example: driving tour to historic places, where we get out and have someone explain facts).  This promotes members getting to know each other better.
Have pre-meeting special interest groups.  Examples: talk about cloud storage, ????
Have a pot-luck before meeting (used to do this in May).
Offer to help research for Civil War ancestors.
Key items that we discussed our Society should do:   Doing things that benefit our society Let people know that not all things are found on the internet Educate and encourage Motivate Preserve Publish materials and make available Advertise, advertise
Promote: indexing and probate scanning, get it published. Maybe go to dinner afterward s, see if a Saturday would work. Hard copy for Libraries.
Promote: ECGS on website, Quest, community newspapers in surrounding areas to come and see us. Advertise meetings on genealogy websites that allow you to for free. Cindy's list and Family Search. Also USGenWeb and FGS. Brochures at Chamber of Commerce, all township office and Libraries, even rest stop welcome centers and senior citizens centers. Radio and Television. Cross references to other societies of our collection(shelf list), when meetings and events are.
Ideas: Old obits bring in and preserve. Group cutting of old newspapers. Genealogy Bingo Do a history of a building in area and put article in paper.

Community Outreach Ideas:

Senior Citizen Classes – Forms with memory-provoking ideas for them to write some of their life history.
Booth at county fair.  We used to do this.
We donate at times, such as materials to Allen County, Archives, etc.  Recognize what we donate in our Quest.  Let members know.
Advertise in other cities and counties.
Round-table discussions.  Work with others (example: CSA, Historical Commission) to bring in someone on a specific topic and perhaps have various libraries host these.
Find older residents of various areas and ask for their family history.
Create brochure for kids to learn about genealogy research.

A few ideas to reach out to the community for help:

4-H Kids
Boy/Girl Scouts
Schools (especially for the grade that does the family research), college students.

Web Site Ideas

Web page to explain early history and the records we have for that time period.  Jan’s GenWeb has this info, so check into linking to that for the specifics.
Special web page for kids. (Google ‘genealogy for kids’)
Publish unidentified photos and ask for help to identify.  (Also could do this on posters at public functions.)

Fund-Raising Ideas

Indexes for libraries.  (Example: Probate Packet index)
A “Mug” book – create book with people supplying stories and photos.