StEPs-CT

StEPs-CT is an integrated program of professional development, facilitated conversation, mentorship, and competitive grant funding for smaller cultural organizations.  StEPs-CT is a program of Connecticut Humanities (CTH) and the Connecticut League of History Organizations (CLHO) in partnership with the Connecticut Historical Society based upon a curriculum of best practices developed by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) called StEPs.

StEPs is an acronym for “Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations.”  Since its debut in 2009, StEPs has helped nearly 900 institutions nationwide, including 51 in Connecticut, begin taking “steps” to plan for positive change.

StEPs-CT aligns with the national curriculum created by AASLH. The six standards units covered over the course of three years are: Mission, Vision, & Governance; Audience; Management; Stewardship of Collections; Stewardship of Historic Structures & Landscapes; and Interpretation.

StEPs-CT is designed for smaller Connecticut museums, historical societies and other cultural organizations that are interested, willing and committed to strengthening their organizations.

Specifically, the program is designed to support organizations with an operating budget of $150,000 or smaller.

If you can articulate a case for your participation, your application will be considered.

Program participants are chosen through a competitive application process. The application is designed to be easy to access and complete.

Participating organizations must be Connecticut-based, 501(c)3 non-profits or municipal-run organizations, and provide significant programming and/or services to the public on a regular basis and have at least one paid staff member (full- or part-time) or dedicated volunteer equivalent with a formalized job description.

Benefits include (per unit):

• 2 full days of training in museum best practices, led by highly qualified museum professionals
• 2 facilitated “open house” half-day programs to address issues specific to your organization
• 1 half day workshop sessions designed to augment each unit’s curriculum
• Access to a dedicated StEPs-CT mentor during designated training days and up to an additional 6  hours of consult time per unit
• Exclusive access to a CTH competitive grant fund for a project related to achieving StEPs program standards (pending funding availability)
• StEPs certificates sent from AASLH to recognize your organization’s progress through the program

The StEPs-CT program is designed to be affordable:

• $175 for a one-time enrollment fee in the national StEPs program (includes cost of the program workbook and access to national, online StEPs community).
• Organizations must also maintain an institutional membership to the CLHO and AASLH for the duration of the program.
• Program fees to allow an unlimited number of organizational participants to take part in all activities (unit fees paid at the beginning of each unit):
  • $200 per unit for First Time Participants wanting to complete all six StEPs units between 2018-2020 (Total amount paid over three years = $1,200)
  • $300 per unit for First Time Participants wanting to complete three StEPs units only (Mission, Vision, & Governance; Audience; and Management. Total amount paid over eighteen months = $900)
  • $150 per unit for Returning StEPs-CT Organizations wanting to participate in one StEPs unit only.

Accepted organizations are allowed an unlimited number of participants.

Organizations commit to:

• Achieving Bronze Level StEPs Certificates (or higher) for each standards unit covered
• Attend the following StEPs-CT program-related activities for EACH standards unit:
  • Unit intro session (1 day)
  • Unit workshop (1 day)
  • Unit open house sessions (must attend at least 1 of 2 open house half days)
  • Unit wrap-up session (1 half-day)
• Designate a dedicated representative who will remain the primary contact throughout the course of the entire StEPs-CT program.

Note:  Two people from each organization must attend all sessions for each StEPs standards unit.

Not necessarily. Some organizations may elect to do the first three curriculum units only. Previous StEPs-CT organizations may elect to come back to do single units only.

We hope to accept up to 10 organizations into the StEPs-CT program for 2018-20.  We plan to include 2 program mentors per unit who will each work with up to 5 participating organizations.

StEPs-CT mentors have been chosen from the Connecticut heritage community based on their experience working with small organizations on a broad variety of topics. The training sessions will be led by StEPs-CT program staff and occasionally, invited guest subject area specialists. Material that is presented during the training sessions has been created by AASLH and modified and augmented to address the needs of the StEPs-CT participants.

This will be the third offering of the StEPs-CT program.  From 2012-17, 47 organizations completed the program, transforming their organizations in the process.  To date, these organizations have earned over 150 StEPs certificates (one third of StEPs certificates earned nationwide) and received over $175,000 in grants from Connecticut Humanities.  Participant testimonials include:

“StEPs-CT encourages all of us who participate to strive for higher standards in our organizations’ operations and to increase services to our audiences.”

“I was delighted and honored that our organization was accepted to participate in StEPs-CT… It’s a tremendous opportunity for our organization to grow.” — Dick Pacholski, President, Harwinton Historical Society

“The first two sessions of this program helped me to gain insight into the Board of Director’s responsibilities for managing our Historical Society and for creating a Strategic Plan of operations.” — Richard Lindsey, Treasurer, Kent Historical Society

“This is a great opportunity for our institution to work on meeting national standards in the museum field so that we may better serve our community.” — Mark McEachern, Torrington Historical Society

“We at the Warren Historical Society are excited about the opportunity the StEPs program gives us to revitalize our organization and enhance our programming and community outreach.” — Rebecca Neary, Vice President, Warren Historical Society

Yes. CTH will open a second round of CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant applications in late summer 2022, with funding decisions and notifications made late 2022, for use of funds in 2023.

We anticipate that the final report and follow up survey will be made available to all grantees in the early summer. The reason for the delay is that the survey is intended to show the impact of funds on the CT cultural sector, which CTH will use to advocate for continued funding. We will send out an email notification when the final report is made available in the CTH Grant Application Portal.

The final report will have two components. In CTH’s online grants system, you will be asked to fill out a brief narrative report and financial report about how you spent the funds and the impact that they had on your organization. While CTH does not require you to submit copies of invoices, checks, or receipts with your final report, we do ask that you keep supporting documentation on file for at least 5 years in case your grant is ever selected to be audited.

You will also be asked to fill out a follow up survey from Wilkening Consulting much like the one you completed at the beginning of the grant period. The purpose for this survey is to help us collect and report data on the impact these operating support funds had on CT’s cultural sector. This data will also be used to advocate for continued funding for CT’s cultural sector.

Click here to see the data stories created from CT Cultural Fund grantees’ initial survey responses.

Data collection is important for CTH to continue to advocate for future funding to support the state’s cultural, humanities, and arts community. That said, we know that this is an area where many organizations are uncomfortable or would like assistance. Over the coming weeks and months, CTH will work to create and roll out a series of tools, templates, and trainings to help CT Cultural Fund grantees start to better collect data from their respective audiences. Please click here to see tips, recommendations, and a template shared from CT Humanities’ evaluation consultant, Wilkening Consulting. You may download an editable data collection template here.