Step 2: Plan and Organize

The second step in heritage tourism development is to rally the key players and plan and organize the process.

Existing Efforts 

It is likely that your community already has an organization tasked with the development or promotion of tourism.  If so, any new heritage tourism project should flow through that organization. This helps to recognize existing efforts of your partners and avoid duplication of efforts. Coordinating new projects through them will help build support for your project and avoid any potential conflicts later.

It is crucial to find out what existing tourism organizations your community has and who the key players are within them. They may support you in your efforts or perhaps even take a leadership role in the project.

Most communities will have a local chamber of commerce, and some will have a tourist bureau (or convention and visitors bureau). Other potential existing partners could include the following organizations:

• Economic development organizations
• Parks and recreation departments
• Downtown associations or Main Street programs
• County Historical Commissions

Each organization will play a different role, and all could be helpful partners in developing heritage tourism products and experiences.

Collaboration

Heritage tourism endeavors require the expertise of many individuals and depend on the work of dedicated staff as well as volunteers. Once a site or community has decided to pursue heritage tourism development, it should begin to organize by building a local consensus that supports heritage tourism. This step should include gaining support from local businesses, uniting local government behind the efforts, and seeking the backing of service organizations. Building these types of partnerships is essential in planning for the development of heritage tourism in a community. Partnerships ensure community buy-in and support for the project. In addition, individuals and organizations that are partners in the project are often the source of political and financial support.

Partnerships are important in each step of heritage tourism development, including community planning, organization, interpretation, preservation, marketing, and visitor services.

Volunteers

Volunteers are a component of collaboration with the community and play a crucial role in heritage tourism development. They provide community buy-in, political support, and financial assistance for projects. With limited staff and budgets, volunteers are often the backbone of heritage tourism initiatives. Volunteers working within museums, historic sites, and tourism destinations perform a variety of duties.

Some examples include: 

• Policy formation and management—serving on boards, committees, and task forces
• Practical tasks—renovating buildings or artifacts, researching new exhibits, arranging displays, or developing educational programs
• Interaction with the public—serving as greeters docents, tour guides, on speakers’ bureaus, or working with children’s programs
• Administration—cataloguing, recording, bookkeeping, or completing data entry
• Publications—writing articles, newsletters, flyers, or web updates
• Fundraising—conducting special events, selling memberships, or developing new fundraising ideas

By definition, volunteering is done by choice, with monetary reward and for the benefit of the community.

Benefits of Volunteer Involvement

For the organization:

• Creates strong community advocates
• Initiates, enhances, and extends services
• Provides a cost-effective service

For the volunteer:

• Allows participation and involvement in new areas
• Provides the opportunity to advocate for change and participate in decision-making
• Allows pursuit of a long-term or new interest

Management

Volunteers can provide different benefits to a heritage tourism project. However, proper management is necessary to recruit volunteers and to ensure a high retention rate. In addition, sometimes problems arise when a volunteer does a poor job or causes a conflict within the organization. Always work with the volunteer to remedy the situation—but as a last resort, a volunteer can be “fired.” Volunteer management includes recruitment, orientation, training, and appreciation.

Volunteers can be misused if:

• They are assigned inappropriate tasks
• They are allocated a task against their own free will
• The program is inadequately planned or poorly managed
• Their input is discouraged

Recruitment

Proper preparation for volunteers is the first step in planning success. AmeriCorps’ latest biennial research Volunteering and Civic Life in America reported that an estimated 23.3 percent of Americans or more than 60.7 million people formally volunteered with organizations between September 2020 and 2021. In total, these volunteers served an estimated 4.1 billion hours, with an economic value of $122.9 billion. According to the same study, in Texas alone, more than 4.8 million residents volunteered through an organization contributing more than $7.3 billion in economic value in 2021.

Recruitment is key as people are much more likely to engage with an organization if someone they know and trust is already involved. 

When considering recruitment, keep in mind that women volunteer at a higher rate than men, Generation X (aged 41 to 56 in 2021) had the highest formal volunteering rate out of all generations (27 percent), and parents with children under 17 formally volunteered at a higher rate (30 percent) than those without children in their household (21 percent).

Developing a specific volunteer job title like “newsletter producer” or “volunteer receptionist” is better than a vague “office volunteer” title. Assigning the position a job description, clearly stating expected duties, and writing down qualifications for the job is essential for recruitment. This helps with the successful selection of a volunteer, which involves matching the volunteer’s skills, attributes, and time availability with the job description, as well as pairing the needs and expectations of the volunteer with those of the organization.

When considering volunteers for a project, it is important to remember that their involvement is not free to the organization. Direct monetary costs include:

• Expense reimbursement
• Public liability and personal accident insurance
• Supervision and/or management by paid staff
• Training costs
• Facilities
• Miscellaneous expenses (newsletters, volunteer appreciation costs such as dinners, events, or awards)

The number one recruitment method is “word of mouth”.

Orientation/Training

If proper recruitment and selection procedures are utilized, orientation will begin before the volunteers start working. After recruitment, volunteers will want further information about the organization and their specific duties. Consider offering new volunteers a tour of the organization and introducing them to staff. The following is a list of information an organization should share with volunteers:

• The overall mission of the organization
• The mission of the volunteer’s project or program
• A purpose statement for the volunteer program
• A staff list and guide explaining who to contact for what purposes
• A list of different volunteer efforts within the organization
• A written, detailed description of volunteer tasks
• The volunteer/staff handbook/code of conduct/policies and guidelines on volunteer reporting during assignments
• Training manuals or materials, as appropriate
• Newsletters and other information commonly distributed to donors (volunteers are donors)
• Feedback during and after the assignment concerning the impact of the volunteer’s contribution on the organization and those it serves
• Updates about new volunteering opportunities as they emerge

While orientation is crucial for all volunteers, training will depend on the job requirements and skill level of each volunteer. Remember that people process information in different ways and there are a variety of training methods for each style of learning. Consider the following:

• Group training sessions
• The buddy system
• Mentoring
• Modeling good practice
• Guided reading

Appreciation

Volunteers do not expect a monetary reward for their efforts, but in addition to an enjoyable and worthwhile experience, they do expect:

• Recognition of their contributions
• Feedback concerning their performance
• Satisfactory and safe working conditions
• The right to claim out-of-pocket expenses
• Public liability and personal accident insurance coverage

If the organization has decided not to offer out-of-pocket expenses or insurance coverage, volunteers should be made aware of these facts before they begin work.

Tip: Track your organization’s volunteer hours.

Always log and track the number of volunteer hours being completed for the organization. Computer programs are available to track volunteer hours, but a simple paper log will accomplish the same goals.

Tracking hours serves multiple purposes:

• Shows the number of people that care about the organization enough to give their time
• Represents in-kind donations or total hours given toward a grant project
• Provides a baseline for volunteer recognition (number of hours served)
• Tracks the total number of hours needed to operate the site (staff time plus volunteer time).

Sources: Independent Sector; Messer, Cynthia C., and Mary E. Vitcenda. Community Tourism Development. University of Minnesota, Tourism Center, 2017; reCollections, Caring for Collections Across Australia, Managing People; The Volunteer Center 

Organizational Development

Once community support is gained, it is time to organize. There are numerous resources explaining how to form a nonprofit organization in detail, whether it is for heritage tourism, historic preservation, or other causes, including the National Council of Nonprofits, Texas Association on Nonprofit Organizations– Great Nonprofits, as well as the Office of the Governor’s Nonprofit Toolkit. Please refer to these resources when setting up your non-profit organization.

Fundraising

Securing the funds necessary to operate the organization’s budget is an important and relentless part of organizing and administering a heritage tourism project. The first rule of fundraising is to be prepared. Applying for funding can be a long and drawn-out process. Make sure the reasons for financially supporting the project are well considered.

Fundraising Plan

A fundraising plan will help the organization achieve its budget. A successful plan will outline different strategies to reach the overall goal. Be careful not to become too dependent on one type of funding source.

To develop a fundraising plan, complete the following steps:

1. Identify the project in need of funding.
2. Identify the project’s target audience.
3. Use the target audience analysis to cultivate a list of potential donors.
4. Create a project budget to establish a fundraising goal.
5. Identify the type of funding to be used for the project and create a schedule.

 Use the example below as a planning guideline.

Fundraising Process

Once a fundraising plan for a project is established, there are four main aspects of the fundraising process:

• Assessment—Use the potential donor list to identify specific targets at the local, regional, state, and national levels. Identify donors that can be feasibly cultivated—those whose geographic and giving time frame fit within the needs of the project. To identify these targets, utilize board members and current donors to determine who already gives to similar projects in the community.
• Cultivation—Potential donors become actual donors through cultivation. Donors must feel they are involved in collaboration and that their participation is crucial to success. A key component of all cultivation is the gathering and utilization of knowledge about the potential donor. Find out as much as possible about them as an individual, a corporation, a foundation, etc., and use this information to make a compelling connection between their interests and the project.
• Solicitation—The solicitation (the “ask”) will vary depending upon the kind of donor being asked. It can range from a formal written proposal to a personal, verbal invitation to “join the team.”
• Stewardship—This is perhaps the most important part of fundraising and can ensure that a consistent base of funding and support is built. Each donor will require and respond to different kinds of acknowledgement and thanks. Be creative, sincere, and appropriately personal. Donors need to feel that they are integral to the success of the project.

Texas Foundations

In Texas, there are very few professionally operated private foundations. All other private foundations and trusts in Texas are family operated. When soliciting funds from these entities, it is usually beneficial to have a family member’s support. Sending unsolicited proposals to foundations is typically unsuccessful. 

Check with current and past board members for their connections with foundation board members.

The best way to research foundations is through a foundation library. These can be libraries or collections within libraries that have reference books and materials on private foundations and trusts. When visiting a foundation library for the first time, make an appointment with the librarian to learn how to best utilize the resources. Take a list of the projects requiring funding, the type of funding needed and a list of board members, their spouses, and other well-connected individuals who support the organization. In addition, the Texas Grants Resource Center, part of the University of Texas at Austin, is an important resource for help in accessing funding information, including Candid’s Foundation Directory. See fconline.foundationcenter.org for more information. The Friends of the Texas Historical Commission also provides periodic workshops on grant writing and evaluation. 

Sources for Public Funding

Local

• City government
• County government
• Local service groups (Lions Club, Women’s Forum, Garden Club, etc.)

State

• Texas Historical Commission
• Texas Commission on the Arts
• Humanities Texas
• Texas Parks and Wildlife
• Texas Department of Agriculture

Federal

• Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• Institute of Museum and Library Services
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• National Trust for Historic Preservation
• National Park Service
• U.S. Forest Service
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
• U.S. Department of Transportation/ Alternatives Program

Worksheet

The following worksheet from the University of Minnesota Extension's Tourism Center are provided to help guide you through Step 2 of the planning process:

• Current Community Tourism Efforts