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

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Outdated model of interaction with DPL now that COVID restrictions are receding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

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

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

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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.