S.W.O.T. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Strengths

Our top 5 strengths	Other strengths
1. Unique collection in a centrally located area in Eaton County. 2. Dedicated, friendly, knowledgeable  volunteers. 3. Web site. 4. Partner cooperation (CSA, Historical Commission, County, Library) 5. Strong membership base.	- Good rent. - Public access of records. - Good open hours. - Good programs. - Ambience. - Friendly atmosphere. - Family oriented. - Strong core-group.

Weaknesses

Our top 5 weaknesses	Other weaknesses
1. Unfinished projects. 2. Lack of volunteers and officer turn-over. 3. Internal communication. 4. Incentive to membership & volunteering. 5. Publicity.	- Meeting space layout. - Musty building. - No open hours for working people. - Not as friendly as we could be to new visitors to make them feel included (this is in process of being changed). - Policy & Procedures. - Backup of computer files. - Lack of long-distance phone plan. - Unlimited free research. - Long range publicity. - Shortage of vault storage. - Room volunteers not kept up-to-date.

Opportunities

Our top 5 opportunities	Other opportunities
1. Generate publicity. 2. Community outreach. 3. Membership Benefits. 4. Ebay (to sell), Pay Pal, Credit Card. 5. Web visibility.	- Member flyers to libraries, Chamber of Commerce, Welcome Centers, etc. - Educational programs. - Generate revenue by membership discounts. - Print on demand. - Expand projects. - More events, such as bus trips, which brings people closer together. - Share publication list & shelf list with other Societies. - Promote Society’s Pioneer Family program. - Create a Family Group Sheet collection.

Threats

Our top 5 threats	Other threats
1. Off-site backup of computers. 2. System Administration backup & computers out of date. 3. Aging/infirmity of Society. 4. No backup people for officer duties. 5. Financial health.	- Meeting space layout. - Lack of communication. - Fund raising. - Disaster plan.

Our Planning Workshop

Deb Deal from Ohio was the facilitator for this day and she was terrific!  We met at 9:00 am and discussed how the day would be spent.  She then talked about our survey results that had been taken in the prior weeks.  To finish out the morning, she gave us lots of ideas about attracting new members.

Deb Deal

   

   

Attendees:

Deb Deal, Facilitator, Jan Shepler, Shirley & Clarence Hodges, Sharlene Thuma, Marjorie Evarian, Jan Sedore, Gary & Sherry Copenhaver, Joann DePeel, John Evans, Sher Brown, Liz & Vern Jones, Phyllis Whidden, Jim Collins, Sue Thompson

At noon, we enjoyed pizza for lunch and lots of goodies which included brownies and cookies brought in by Jim.

In the afternoon, we broke into four groups and discussed the steps needed to prepare to make a plan.  These steps include identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) method.

We then got back together into one group and came up with the top 5 of each group, which led us to revise our Mission Statement and begin a plan for our Society.  See a separate posting for the these results!

After our full day of working, many of us went to the Eaton Place and had a great dinner together!

And finally, to finish the evening, some of us went to our library to show Deb Deal our holdings, our Index System and some of our vaults.  It was a great day!

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.