Board recruitment underway; Friends of the Yellowstone Gateway Museum Foundation grows activity and secures a grant for speaker series

The Yellowstone Gateway Museum Board discussed board recruitment and foundation activity at its May 26 meeting. The Chair reported one application from “Sean” and said another expected application from “Bob” is pending while he is on vacation; the board noted more vacancies will occur later this year and urged outreach to recruit geographically diverse candidates, including from Shields Valley and areas beyond a 10-mile radius.

A representative of the Friends of the Yellowstone Gateway Museum Foundation updated the board on the foundation’s work, saying the group is active between meetings with committees focused on governance, capital-campaign readiness and programming. “The foundation is getting very active and has several committees that are doing a lot of work in between board meetings,” the representative said, describing efforts to update 501(c)(3) paperwork, prepare board handbooks and plan a capital campaign.

The representative said the foundation’s program committee has been successful placing speaker programs in venues across the community and noted the foundation secured support from the Park County Community Foundation: although the speaker-series project cost more than $20,000, the Park County Community Foundation provided $13,000. Foundation work, the representative said, also includes closer coordination with school classes: “one of the goals of that particular program is really just to raise the profile…every speaker goes in or almost everyone goes in the 5th grade class.”

Board members asked how many foundation board members are needed and discussed the foundation’s interest in recruiting volunteers with marketing, philanthropy and tourism experience. The board did not take formal governance action at the meeting; items on recruitment and strategic-plan updates will return to the board later in the year.