Our society's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats were identified in a previous survey. Now we would like to determine the strength/relevance/importance of each item.

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* 1. Please rate the following Strengths (INTERNAL characteristics that are unique, special, highly valued, and positive relative to our Society).

  Weak Neutral Strong
Knowledgeable: Large (400+) and stable base of Family history-passionate members Expertise in Dallas and North Texas
Partnerships with charitable organizations for funding
Experience, passion and knowledge and Team Work of current leadership
Creative members with good technical know-how.
Cohesive branding: We provide a professional appearance through our website, branding, artwork
Welcoming: Enjoyable/good vibes/kind
Flexible/Creative/Resourceful/Good Problem solving skills: We are not afraid to jump in and try new things, ie zoom right after the pandemic, hybrid meetings
Good Listeners: Open to ideas
Neon & its capabilities
Longevity: Established more than 60 years ago
Use of Technology to aid in the retention of members at a distance
Newsletter
Offering 3 seminars each year with presenters of national renown
Continuing to have meetings available on Zoom
Mutually beneficial Relationship with/support of the Dalla Public Library
Good base of genealogical speakers: Known as the place to get a speaker
Hybrid meeting format used for General Meetings, Seminars and SIG meetings.
Website development/support team and the current Website design - easy to find things and to navigate
Zoom Hybrid Meeting Capabilities
Marketing Commitment
Dependable
Special Interest Groups
Have technological expertise that most societies don't have
In-person AND online educational presentations/meetings

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* 2. Overall Comment(s) on our Strengths?

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* 3. Please rate the following Weaknesses (INTERNAL to our organization/network. They are things we need to improve on (and we can control)).

  Minor Neutral Major
Vague/unclear areas of responsibilities for some Board, Director an Administrator positions
Lack of a good way to document volunteers, their interests, and their participation.
Lack of delegation by some board members
Dependance on Ken Johnston for artwork
Board members who are very opinionated and set in their ways
Not remembering what we decided from meeting to meeting
Communication between society leaders.
Poor succession planning and lack of a focused program to develop a pool of future leaders.
Member networking
High event prices relative to other organizations
Low utilization of "long distance tech" used with SIG's.
Soliciting & utilizing member input
Not having a well-defined financial strategy that would allow the society to be more self funded over time
Inconsistent use of DGS brand identity graphics/colors/ etc.
Lack of relationships
Special Interest Groups
Lack of new approaches to communications or operations
Recognition of accomplishments & achievements by members, volunteers and the society.
Majority white membership and all-white leadership in a multicultural city
Presentation/utilization of recordings we have created
Creating board reports and posting them in the correct place
Communication with new board members
Creating/maintaining marketing materials
Failure to provide General Meeting slides
Outdated model of interaction with DPL now that COVID restrictions are receding
Leadership development and recruitment with genealogical influencers in non-white population
Reaching out to  engage younger or more progressive members
Lack of volunteers with required skills
Scheduling board meetings immediately after the General Meeting
Creation of/use of Videos in our marketing efforts
Making members aware of  record preservation activities
Automatic negative reaction to new ideas

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* 4. Overall Comment(s) on our Weaknesses?

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* 5. Please rate the following Opportunities (EXTERNAL situations/things that may provide "opportunites" for growth and improved service. We cannot control them and they may be time sensitive).

  Low Priority Neutral HIgh Priority
Unique workshop formats
Interviews with elders of communities of interest: Latino, People of Color, Asian
More promotion of DGS Youtube channel & topics
Offering rides to members who can’t/won’t drive downtown
Create/manage more transcription, Indexing or imaging projects
Coordinate with other Genealogical  societies to create joint record sets
Assuming members and records from local societies that are/have ceased operations.
Seek out media publicity to enhance all aspects of organization
Provide engaging presentations that attract under-65 attendees
Mentoring programs
Incorporate more membership (and their ideas) in society activities
Do "Finding Your Roots" studies of Dallas celebrity, for publicity
Improve outreach to non-white genealogical leaders (HOGAR, Hispanic, People of Color) and identify opportunities to team with them for projects.
Usage contracts with libraries elsewhere for sharing resources
Create more unique record sets to draw people to website
Increasing multicultural population - need to be their genealogical partners
Establish/improve relationships with other historical/genealogical local entities (such as DallasArchives, Preservation Dallas, cemeteries, LDS Churches, etc.) and find ways to collaborate on programs and services.
Helping/taking a leadership role for those societies in the area that are having membership problems.
Explore new fundraising opportunities to make up for the lack of revenue from seminars, ie research trips, ect
Make DGS an increasingly online resource for family history
Step into the void being left by state and national organizations who are not holding in-person conferences.
Presentations to outside organizations for a projects like the cemetery project
More online opportunities
Regularly scheduled classes
Better/Expanded use of social media to connect with younger demographics
What do we provide that other societies/people want? Are we known for specific collections? Advertise them

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* 6. Overall Comment(s) on our Opportunities?

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* 7. Please rate the following Threats (Situations/things that may challenge our existence or our ability to impact change. We cannot control them: We hope to avoid them or plan to lessen their impact).

  Low Threat Neutral High Threat
Reduced number of people who visit the genealogy section due to reduced library hours.
“All the records are online” mentality
People not showing up physically for events held at the library.
Fire
Membership skewing older and aging out
Lack of revenue from seminars: more competition for online seminars at lower prices
Aging demographic in membership
Anxiety about in-person meetups due to viral exposure: Another flare up of the pandemic
Reduced/limited access to Dallas Library facilities due to restricted hours of operations.
Decrease in society memberships: fewer people joining societies
Negative perception of downtown Dallas that makes people hesitant to visit the library for events.
Online genealogy training and resources that don't require society membership
Need for increased social media presence Tik-Tok, Instagram, YouTube
Tornado
People's engagement becoming increasingly online.
Declining interest in volunteering
Post-pandemic preference for virtual meetings and learning and its effect on membership "loyalty"
Changing priorities for a younger group of researchers
Migration of genealogists/family history researchers to online resources and away from local societies.
Generational differences in joining and participating in organizations
People who do not like virtual programming and interaction

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* 8. Overall Comment(s) on our Threats?

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* 9. Thank you for participating in this survey. Please provide any additional comments you would like to share.

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