REPORT
Town of Tillsonburg
DATE:January 29, 2003
TO:Cynthia Hildebrand
FROM:Rita Corner
RE:Quarterly Report as at December 31, 2002 – Annandale National Historic Site
PURPOSE:
To provide a quarterly report for the period ending December 31, 2002.
BACKGROUND:
Before the Christmas crazies began in November, the museum ended the fall season by hosting the Annual Scarecrow Contest and Harvest Pie Social. The end of October also saw the end of the “Pollard to Polaroid” exhibit, which was very well received and was a wonderful opportunity to highlight the museum’s extensive collection of photographic equipment. George Tillson, who lives in Shortsville, New York, just outside of Rochester – the home of the Eastman-Kodak museum, noted our collection was equally as impressive as theirs. As always, the last quarter of the year is the museum’s busiest with 1/3 of our attendance occurring in a short 8 weeks, starting with the Down Home Country Christmas weekend in late November and continuing through December with school programming. Each year Annandale National Historic Site is transformed into a one-of-a-kind seasonal experience including the decorating of all three floors of the restored house and featuring a specially designed seasonal exhibit in the main gallery. This year’s exhibit was titled, “A Warm and Cozy Christmas” and highlighted the museum’s outstanding permanent collection of quilts and coverlets. A special school program was designed for this exhibit which included an ½ hour presentation followed by a ½ hour ornament making activity and staff can accommodate 3 classes a day for a four week period. Also during the month of December, a specially designed adult program is offered to groups and organizations. Dubbed the “Tea and Tour” option, this program is presented in late afternoon and consists of tea and Christmas goodies served by the Social Committee followed with guided tours of the house and exhibit lead by our Volunteer Tour guides. All these activities rely greatly on the many volunteers who give of their time to help decorate the house, make the refreshments and conduct the various tours. Museum staff are also very involved in many other activities associated with the Down Home weekend such as organizing the Tree Lighting at the Library, the Horse Wagon rides throughout the downtown, the decorating of the downtown with boughs, and acting as liason for activities such as the Church musical walking tour. All these activities result in a great deal of overtime being accumulated by staff during this period.
______
1) Performance Measures:
Measure
/ 20014th Quarter / 2002
Year-End Projection / 2002
4th Quarter
Output Measures – quantity
General Attendance / 7678 / 9000 / 7564
Volunteers / 105 / 104 / 115
Volunteer Hours / 1585 / 1700 / 1659
Staff Volunteer/Overtime hours (2 staff) / 471 / 600 / 506
Artifact Donations / 205 / 100 / 108
Fundraised Dollars - Individuals
-Special Events / $1909
$22,278 / $3000
$12,000 / $3578
$9735
Trust Fund Donations / $13,975 / $13,000 / $14,605
Shares (Exxon/Mobil 116 shares) / N/A / $4790 US / $4055 US
Comments:
a)General Attendance: Attendance in the final quarter of the year was very disappointing. Up until this quarter, the trend in visitor attendance saw a steady increase and staff had predicted that this trend would continue, hopefully ending the year with a higher attendance than in previous years. This, however would not happen. Instead, an unexpected decrease resulted in the lowest attendance numbers for quite a number of years. A considerable portion of the attendance decrease was beyond our control, resulting from the cancellation of school programming due to the public elementary school work-to-rule situation, accounting for 700 less students partaking of the Christmas program. But other decreases were experienced in other areas, such as, fewer visitors during the Down Home Country Christmas weekend. This weekend, which normally brings in over a 1000 visitors to the museum, saw only 620 attend this year. Reasons for the down turn are unexplained and staff is at a quandary as to how to attract more visitors without embarking on an extensive marketing and promotional campaign which could be very costly.
b)Volunteers and Volunteer Hours: The commitment of volunteers is essential to the museum’s ability to complete its full schedule of activities. Fortunately, we have been able to continually replenish our volunteer base and maintain over 100 volunteers at all times. During the Christmas season, volunteers ensured that the museum could meet all of its programming commitments. It took 35 volunteers to complete the decoration of Annandale House, another 3 to help with the exhibit set up, and all 14 members of the Volunteer tour guide committee to manage the Tea and Tour program. Additional volunteers helped to bake goodies, stuff invites etc. for the various Christmas and New Year’s activities scheduled throughout the season. Christmas At Annandale wouldn’t happen without the many volunteer hours given by these individuals.
c)Staff Overtime: With only two permanent staff, overtime continues to be a requirement due to the demand of room rentals, assorted community involvements like Down Home Country Christmas and preparations for the many special events - All requiring staffing beyond the regularly scheduled open hours.
d)Donations: Donations to the museum consist of three types: artifacts donated to the museum’s collection; money donated to general operations; and money donated to the Trust Funds. As donations of artifacts is an arbitrary act and dependent on individuals who may have items pertinent to give, the items received in 2002 were very significant pieces ranging from furniture items and china suitable for furnishing Annandale House to documents and photographs adding to the history of Tillsonburg. Donations of money towards the operation of the museum is also difficult to predict and although we did not meet our budgeted target, we did achieve 71% of our goal. Donations to the Trust Fund are much easier to obtain and various fundraising efforts are specifically aimed at raisng money for this purpose.
e)Fundraising: Likewise, fundraising for both operations and trust funds is always a very tricky and a difficult matter, as supporters see both campaigns as very different and distinct. This year, the museum’s fundraising committee insisted that funds raised through the sale of Rotary Club Trip-of-the-Month tickets be deposited in the Trust Fund and not the museum fundraising operational account. This decision was based on the fact that purchasers of these tickets do so in support of the restoration of Annandale House and not to support the daily operation of the museum. However, this decision will result in the museum not meeting the budgeted revenue projection for this area (Special Events). No other major fundraisers were managed to make up this shortfall. Museum staff have difficulty in creating new fundraising opportunities for the museum, due to the fact that they must be involved in fundraising efforts for both the Trust as well as, fundraising efforts for the Historical Society who raises funds to support museum projects not covered by museum operations. This year alone the Historical Society sponsored one of the summer student positions.
2) Current Directions:
2002 Objectives:
To continue to collect and preserve the history of the community
As always, the museum staff continue to encourage donations to the collection which further the understanding and history of the community. Research is completed consistently to enhance the ever-growing collection and through a wide range of annually scheduled exhibits, the collection is displayed and interpreted in a very informative manner. The end of the year saw the confirmation of the 2003 schedule of exhibits which will include two museum collection based exhibits and three loaned exhibits, two of those traveling exhibits from the ROM.
To convert to a computerized collections records management system:
This project is still on-hold until a qualified part-time employee is hired, which will allow the time commitment needed to convert the existing records to computer.
Maintain active calendar of events, exhibits and programs:
Museum staff managed to complete all of the activities and events that were scheduled for the year 2002 including several non-scheduled activities and plans for an active 2003 calendar are also in place.
To expand public awareness of the museum through various marketing and advertising initiatives, thereby increasing attendance:
Annandale NHS continued to promote its many activities through a variety of media opportunities, some purchased and some free. In November, a second front page article was written in The Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Travel section) that promoted Annandale NHS, the Down Home weekend and Tillsonburg in general; a spot on Rogers Cable during December helped promote the Christmas season at Annandale). Improved in-town way-finding signage is a priority and should be completed before next year’s busy tourist season.
To continue fundraising initiatives, both existing and new:
The annual Penny Sale of Door Decorations managed to bring in approximately $700 profit.
While the Ross Logan prints of Annandale House sold sufficient quantity to cover the initial costs of the project with additional sales seeing profits to the Annandale House Trust.
Maintain relationships with other community organizations, business and industry:
Museum staff continues involvement in a variety of community events and organizations. The role played by staff is two-fold in nature. As a town operated facility, staff represents both Town interests and museum interests. For example, during Down Home Country Christmas, museum staff organize the downtown Tree Lighting ceremony on the Friday evening on behalf of the Town, but they also organize and host a variety of activities for the museum throughout that three day event. Staff strive to present a balanced and harmonious approach when involved in this manner on the various committees and organizations. Involvements include membership by staff on the Culture Commission, the Canada Day Committee and the Tourism Committee, and Down Home as mentioned above. This same principle is applied by Museum staff when assigned Tourism related duties. Involvement with the business/industrial community is always on-going through various initiatives, be they fundraising or promotional in nature.
Effectiveness/Customer Service Measures / 1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002School/Youth Program Evaluations / 55 / 81 / 42 / 74 / 45
Letters of Appreciation / 28 / 36 / 32 / 25 / 29
Number of Complaints (Verbal) / 8 / 10 / 9 / 10 / 34*
Ratio of visitors to population / 70% / 62% / 63% / 59% / 50%
Number of awards and recognitions / 6 / 5 / 4 / 2 / 7
Media coverage (publications, articles, TV)
(free and unsolicited) / 30 / 30 / 46 / 58 / 55
School/Youth Program Evaluations: School and youth evaluation forms were provided with each program, either to individual participants in the case of the summer program or to teachers/group leaders for classes/groups attending. Return on these is about 50%. The information gathered from these evaluations are used to improve existing programs and also to develop new programs. Copies of the evaluation forms are available upon request for review. Please note that due to the Elementary School work-to-rule situation, fewer school booking were taken in the last quarter, resulting in fewer evaluations.
Letters of Appreciation: Letters of thanks are received often, especially for services provided related to genealogical and research requests. Many of these will include small monetary donations. Many positive comments are received daily from the visiting public and most are noted in our visitor register.
Complaints: Complaints directed to the museum and its services are most often verbal and are usually related to poor way-finding signage as noted in my last report. * But, the museum often receives complaints regarding other community related matters or facilities not necessarily within the responsibility of the Town. For example, complaints, like a lack of restaurant facilities in the downtown on a Sunday, etc., are often received, as the museum now serves as the Tourist Information Centre.
Ratio to Population: When comparing our visitor ratio to the population of Tillsonburg, our site exceeds the Provincial average which ranges from 25-35% dependent on the year. At the present time, our museum is at 50% visitorship to population.
Number of awards and recognitions: Although not successful in 2002, the museum was nominated for an Attractions Canada Award. An attempt will be made to nominate the museum again in 2003. Keep in mind that our attraction is in competition with much larger facilities in larger centers.
Media Coverage: The museum is consistently promoted through various media. Coverage is usually solicited by museum staff and results in many feature articles in the local newspaper. The museum is consistently noted in the London Free Press – What’s Happening section, as well. In August, the museum was featured in a full-page colour spread in the Travel Section of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record which has resulted in a steady flow of visitors from that reading audience. A repeat article in the Record in November helped to promote Christmas at Annandale and the Down Home weekend. Museum staff also submitted an article the Nov/Dec. issue of Daytripping which was included and helped to promote the Down home weekend.
3)Key Goals/Objectives of Program by Year
2002 Goals/Objectives / Additional Costs(Savings) if
Applicable / Completion
Update
Additional part-time Staff / 29,000 / Not completed
Increase public programming / ($2278) / Not completed contingent on additional staffing
Initiate new Donor Patron Program / ($5000) / Deferred
Staff constraints
Acquire Collections Management Software Program and start conversion of records / Not completed contingent on additional staffing
Complete permanent Exhibits / Ongoing
Expand Research/Library Services
Need to repair Microfilm reader / $2000 / deferred
Increase Image Profile / Ongoing
Replace carpeting in addition / 20,000 / Deferred to 2003
4) Financial Statement details
REVENUE / 2002 Budget / Year End Projections / Year End ActualsOther / 100 / 198
Admissions / 8000 / 8000 / 7128
Memberships/Annual Passes / 100 / 16 / 16
Rentals / 4000 / 3000 / 2735
Summer Programs / 1250 / 795 / 795
Merchandise / 4000 / 1200 / 1108
Concession Sales / 1000 / 250 / 275
Programs / 4000 / 1500 / 907
Special/Fundraising / 20,000 / 12,000 / 9735
Donations / 5000 / 3000 / 3578
Fed. Grants / 4258 / 5873 / 5873
Prov. Grants / 3445 / 3445 / 3445
Other Grants / 6034 / 1800 / 2981
TOTALS / 61,187 / 40,879 / 38,775
EXPENDITURES
Labour - FT / 85,000 / 85,000 / 93,031
Labour - PT / 30,000 / 18,000 / 16,637
Rentals / 2000 / 2136 / 2136
Supplies / 6100 / 6100 / 4841
Equip. supplies/repairs / 2260 / 1500 / 1953
Program supplies / 700 / 700 / 506
Books & Publications / 250 / 250 / 221
Bldg Repair/Equip.Maintenance / 14,500 / 14,500 / 14,502
Utilities / 17,000 / 17,000 / 19,267
Insurance / 2822 / 2822 / 2822
Telephone / 1500 / 1500 / 1211
Subcontractors - Janitorial / 3600 / 3600 / 3269
Other / 550 / 769
Adv/Promo / 5000 / 5000 / 4713
Training & Workshops / 1500 / 900 / 236
Special Events / 5500 / 2000 / 1709
Special Projects/Capital / 34,000 / 4150 / 150
TOTAL / 212,282 / 165,158 / 167,971
5) FINANCIAL ANALYSIS -SUMMARY
Chimney repairs were completed before year end and should be noted as $2648. An initial repair
of the roof over the addition in the amount of $4,519. did not alleviate the leaking problem and has resulted in the roof requiring total replacement at the cost of $21,500. This work is to be completed in 2003 and taken from Town Reserves – emergency contingent.
IN SUMMARY
The museum did not experience a good year despite numerous efforts by staff and volunteers to overcome a great many set-backs. Unexpected repairs to the roof added to the situation. Fundraising initiatives were hampered by staff and volunteer exhaustion, which was complicated by numerous new fundraising projects by other groups in the community. The downturn in attendance at the end of the year was most unexpected, as up to that point all indication was that this year would be a record attendance year. Hopefully the staff and volunteers can regroup, spurred on by the 30th anniversary milestone that will be celebrated by the museum in 2003.