Historic Homes and Historic Churches

Yesterday, we met with Frank Vagnone, Executive Director of the Historic House Trust in New York City. He oversees the organization, working to preserve and present historic houses. During our conversation, we spoke about how to maintain the houses with dignity, while keeping them open to the public and relevant to the world.

Mr. Vagnone spoke of his own desire to turn the houses into think tanks, capturing people’s interest while turning out new insights about the world in relation to their own deep history. Historic houses have to find ways to connect and become financially viable institutions so that their work can continue.

I think that the same goes for the church.

Just as Mr Vagnone speaks about finding new partners and encouraging new collaborations, churches can use similar models to make their mission more relevant and successful. The homes that he works with offer children’s school programs, contemporary art exhibits and leading research in their fields. They work within and outside of the four walls of the homes. In many ways, the historic homes of NYC are embodying what the church is seeking. How can we encourage new programs, turn into research and development laboratories, and work with local organizations and agencies that share our mission?

Walking away from our conversation, I realized that another issue that exists is how we measure success. While the measurement of success for the church may be different than the measure of success for the Historic Homes Trust, I imagine that there are similar elements. How many people do we encounter in our work? How many lives are changed? How much money do we raise? How much money do we give away? When we know how to measure success, then we know how to evaluate our model, and we begin to find new ways to achieve our goals.

And, as Mr. Vagnone alluded to a couple of times, a good party never hurts fundraising efforts.