Organisational Health Check
About
The Organisational Health Check (previously known as the ‘Museum MOT’) is a self-assessment tool to help museums benchmark activity, identify what they are doing well, and define areas that need improvement.
The programme has been created in partnership with our museum development colleagues across England (MDUK).
Since launching in 2018, 70 museums in the south east have completed the programme, using it to inform business planning and workforce development.
Participants can also apply for a £2,000 grant to action a development need identified during the process.
How to apply
We will be accepting expressions of interest for the Organisational Health Check for 2023/24 from 15 May 2023, and expressions of interest will be reviewed on a first come, first serve basis.
Deadline for submitting the Expression of Interest is 1 September 2023.
Please talk to your MDO as soon as possible if you are interested in taking part.
Complete your expression of interest here
All Organisational Health Checks must be completed by Tuesday 31 October 2023 to allow time to prepare advisory reports and grant applications where applicable.
How it works
The Organisational Health Check is a online self-assessment survey.
To prepare, museums are asked to form a small sub-team to discuss the survey questions, facilitated by one of our Museum Development Officers. Once the scoring is agreed, one person from the museum enters the agreed scores into an online survey portal, which is managed by our museum development colleagues in Yorkshire.
We recommended that your sub-team is comprised of at least three people – one senior manager/Trustee; one Front of House worker (staff or volunteer) and one other team member (e.g., curator, education officer, retail manager, volunteer coordinator, etc).
Once the OHC online questionnaire is submitted, your Museum Development Officer will write an Advisory Report pulling out key development priorities and signposting to helpful resources and support. This report is yours to keep. It can be used for benchmarking, forward planning, workforce development, and as support evidence in grant applications (i.e., demonstrating need).
Grant support
Museums who complete the Organisational Health Check in 2023/24 are eligible* to apply for a £2,000 grant from South East Museum Development to action one (or more) of the key development priorities identified in their Advisory Report.
They have 12 months to complete the grant funded activity.
Find out more:
Organisational Health Check Grants
Grant application deadline: 1 December 2023.
One year on, we will catch up with participating museums to complete a follow up report so see what progress has been made, and the impact the Organisational Health Check and support grant has had on your museum.
*While any museum from the region can complete the OHC online survey and receive an Advisory Report, only those that meet our funding eligibility criteria can apply for the OHC Grant (i.e., accredited (fully / provisionally / working towards) museums in the southeast that are non-national and non-NPO (national portfolio organisations).