The Fenton History Center is looking to become more financially self-sustainable and work up funding for large projects in the next few years through a fundraising initiative. Submitted photo

The Fenton History Center is looking ahead in order to fulfill its mission to preserve the past.

The next five years for the Fenton History Center include a lot of plans, and to help sustain and work toward those plans, the organization has recently launched a fundraising initiative, Vision 2030. Vision 2030 began back in the fall, and Joni Blackman, Fenton History Center executive director, said through this initiative they are encouraging people to donate what they would normally give on a monthly basis.

Donations will help with the Fenton’s long term plans, which include building a third building, hiring and sustaining an education coordinator, funding for additional collections staff, completing major preservation projects and ensuring the Fenton can continue to carry out its work. Blackman added they are also looking to have a meeting space in the new third building, and it is expected that eventually they will become home to the Trolley Car 93, which is being restored by Bob Johnston.

“We’re bringing all of these things together to help us move forward and create more experiences for people, especially education-wise,” Blackman said. “Education is the reason we exist, and we are hiring an education coordinator for them to be able to go out into the community and teach local history, and for us to be able to support them while doing that.”

With monthly donations Blackman said they are currently at $175 and are looking to reach $250 at the end of the month, a goal that was said to be able to be reached each month with the help of recurring donations.

“It’s a small way that we can grow big,” Blackman said. “I’m working on the design of our third building. We will be launching our capital campaign in a few weeks. Interviews have been held for the education coordinator and we hope to hire someone and have them begin by the beginning of March.”

Additionally, through this initiative Blackman said they are hoping to increase support of their organization and build community involvement including through volunteers, new members and increasing tourism, especially with having multiple museums in the city within walking distance of each other. The overall plan with the initiative is for the Fenton to have an extra $5,000 by 2030 to help support a lot of their work more easily, especially as they are in need of more staff to handle the growing volume of collections, and to help grow their education program. These plans take time, so Blackman noted that they need to plan years in advance. Andrew Kolstee, office manager, added that building a third building and adding more staff costs a lot of money so having a sustainable funding initiative such as this helps a lot. Similarly, Blackman said that the Fenton working now to build their financial self-sufficiency helps them to continue to fulfill their mission.

“If you stop building your finances you go backwards, and if we go backwards we’re not fulfilling our mission to educate the public on local history,” Blackman said. “Local history is interesting and people can usually come here and find something they didn’t know when they come to visit. When they find something they’re interested in, then they want to support us and that brings us more donors and volunteers.”

Anyone interested in helping to support Vision 2030 and be a part of the expansion can stop by the Fenton History Center, 67 Washington Street, or email or call Blackman at director@fentonhistorycenter.org or 716-664-6256. Blackman said they welcome any support they can get to continue to help save local history.