Supporting History

Preservation and Public Benefit

Originally published in Colorado History NOW, September 2004

The State Historical Fund is currently undergoing a performance audit.  Thankfully, it’s a standard procedure; state agencies regularly conduct audits to ensure efficient tax revenue management.  While some organizations cringe at the idea of an audit, we welcome this opportunity to examine how and why we do
what we do.  This whole experience has us thinking—how do we assure the public that we’re investing state dollars responsibly? We meet that objective by funding well-developed grant projects that demonstrate fiscal accountability and fulfill the objectives of our mission: to foster heritage preservation through tangible and highly visible projects for direct and demonstrable public benefit.

As a state agency using gaming tax revenues, the SHF ultimately is accountable to the citizens of Colorado.  We must assure, through responsible grantmaking, that the money the SHF invests in communities is a responsible reflection of our values and mission.

As we stress at our free public workshops, Colorado citizens have decided that our grant projects must reflect strong public benefit.  That means that our work must benefit the greatest number of people, from the greatest number of communities, for the greatest amount of time.  Consider two hypothetical grant applications: one from homeowners who would like to restore their private residence, another from county commissioners to rehabilitate a courthouse that is open to everyone, almost every day.  Obviously, the courthouse project has a higher degree of public value and its application would be more competitive because more people see and use the building more often, without special permission.

In the SHF grant application, we ask applicants to provide letters of support from the community and a matching cash commitment for grant dollars.  Why? Because letters of support and cash match both show that members of the public—the community—support the project with passion (expressed in their letters) and, as Bill Timmermeyer, formerly of DOLA, stated in his “Top Ten Tips” for grantwriting, they’re willing to put their money where their mouths are. Providing matching cash for grant dollars and letters of support from the community demonstrates that members of the public value a particular preservation project and support an investment of SHF grant dollars in it.

A well-developed grant application must also assure the citizens of Colorado that it is a responsible investment of tax revenues.  Tax dollars are best invested in projects that show a great likelihood of meeting the highest technical preservation standards and are likely to be completed within their budgets.  An application with a scope of work that is developed with the guidance of qualified professionals, meets the goals and objectives of the SHF (see the SHF Program Guidelines), and demonstrates understanding of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation (the federal standards for historic preservation), assures the people of Colorado that a project is a sound financial investment.

A well-developed application reflects a well-developed idea, and assures the public that its dollars are being invested in projects that are likely to preserve our historic resources for the benefit of the greatest number of citizens.  Auditors can then simply review the applications and verify what we already knew—that the SHF responsibly invests public dollars in our communities, and is, as we like to say, “saving the past for the future.”

BY RACHEL SIMPSON, SHF Technical Advisor

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