New guide to help history and heritage groups in Donegal plan for the future

Local history and heritage groups in County Donegal are being invited to access a new guide to help secure the future of their volunteer organisation. 

Succession Planning: A Guide for Community Archives and Heritage Groups is a free resource developed by the Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN) - a National Museum of Ireland initiative delivered in partnership with the Heritage Council, participating Local Authorities and community groups across Ireland. 

The guide looks at ways volunteer groups can address some of the challenges that can influence their future success. Common challenges include attracting new members, getting young people involved; keeping adequate records; or losing access to accounts due to lost passwords or IT crashes.  Effective succession planning addresses these challenges so that groups can safeguard their work into the future. 

iCAN was set-up to support volunteer groups across Ireland to develop and maintain their own community archive. It developed the guide to provide a simple step-by-step process for good succession planning - from having written goals, objectives and operational procedures to protecting passwords and access to websites and social media accounts. 

The Guide was officially launched on Thursday (25 July 2024) at the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar. It is now available to download for free from www.museum.ie  

“iCAN works to empower local communities to document their own history, heritage and culture." says Lorn Elms iCan Development Offcer at the launch.

"This Succession Planning Guide is designed for community archives and heritage groups to ensure their work is future-proofed. It provides a structured approach to forward-planning which, if carried out on an annual basis, will help to ensure groups are maintained and continue to thrive.”

Aalia Kamal, Cultural and Inclusive Heritage Officer with the Heritage Council and a member of the iCAN Advisory Group, also attended the launch. She said:

“Local heritage groups are doing invaluable work developing archives and sharing knowledge, collections, stories and local history. The Heritage Council is delighted to support this work through our involvement with iCAN. The Succession Planning Guide we are launching here today is another great resource provided by iCAN to volunteer researchers and archivists in communities.”