Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.
Preserving his art, his life, his legacy
Mission
The mission of the Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site is to support this historic property and collections where T.C. Steele lived and painted through providing financial support and fostering local, national and international engagement, as well as providing resources for scholars, students and artists and the general public.
Notes from the nonprofit
American impressionist painter Theodore Clement Steele (1847-1926) and his wife Selma moved to Brown County, Indiana in 1907 and established a home, studio and gardens on 211 acres of scenic terrain. The property and its artifacts remain essentially unchanged from the way it was during their time here. The picturesque landscape of this area, and Steele’s prominence, drew in other artists, establishing an Art Colony of the Midwest. Some of his recognitions are: The Boatman (1884) was awarded silver medal from Royal Academy in Munich On the Muscatatuk (1886) was selected to appear in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 Bloom of the Grape (1893) received an honorable mention at the Paris Exposition in 1900. A March Morning received the Fine Arts Building prize at the Fourteenth Society of Western Artists’ annual exhibition in 1909. Steele was inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Design in New York City as an Associate National Academician (A.N.A) in 1913.
Ruling year
1992
President & Board Chair
P. Garrett Adams
Vice President
Benjamin D. Steele
Main address
P.O. Box 1070
Nashville, IN 47448 USA
EIN
35-1842090
NTEE code
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose (A20)
Private Grantmaking Foundations (T20)
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (S12)
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.
Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2010 and 2006.
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Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Annual Member Art Show
The first Member Art show was held in the Large Studio at the T.C. Steele State Historic Site from November 2 – 30 in 2012 with the assistance of the Brown County Art Alliance. The inaugural show hosted 29 artists and 53 works. Artists must be members of Friends of T.C. Steele, and can submit two works for each show, and this remains the standard today. Over 50 people attended.
2020 marks the 8th year, a large number of impressive member paintings were submitted and cash awards announced at the show in February. A total of 43 member paintings were submitted.
The paintings were judged, and awards were given to 1st place and three honorable mentions.
Held at the Brown Country Art Gallery in 2020 for the first time. The event was located in the Bob & Barbara Stevens Art Education Studio, which proved to be a great area to display paintings, host artists and show visitors with plenty of light, hanging space and a kitchen for serving refreshments.
We plan to partner with the Brown County Art Gallery in 2021.
Annual Spring Wildflower Foray
The "Annual Spring Wildflower Foray" is a cooperative event now in its 35th years (2020). The primary focus is the natural history and environmental concerns relating to Brown County, especially as they relate to wildflower and bird populations. Included during this 3-day event are wildflower and bird walks, wetlands hikes, nature photography, and other programs related to the theme of the event.
This is a nature filled event spread over 3-days, with between 15-20 different hikes and programs. Hikes and program are held on the T.C. Steele State Historic Site grounds on established trails and on other nearby natural areas including DNR properties, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana University, Sycamore Land Trust and Nature Conservancy lands.
Over 500 nature lovers from around the Midwest gather each year at the T.C. Steele State Historic Site for a census of wildflowers. It is Indiana’s longest running count of spring blooming wildflowers.
Wildflower author and taxonomy expert Kay Yatskievych, recently retired from Missouri Botanical Gardens, helped organize the first wildflower count in Brown County 36 years ago. Three years later, the event expanded beyond wildflowers to include birdwatching, nature photography, and other nature-oriented activities, becoming the “Annual Spring Wildflower Foray.”
Andrea deTarnowsky, retired Manager of the T.C. Steele State historic Site, has served as chairperson for over 25 years. The Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.. became the fiduciary agent of the event in the early 1990’s and have assisted in many ways, including funding, as one of the sponsors.
Virtual Gallery
The virtual gallery is accessible to all website visitors. The gallery intends to provide the depth and breath of T.C. Steele's work and the genres which include Portraits, Landscapes, Cityscapes, Still LIfes. Many paintings selected include rare portraits and landscapes in private ownership, not accessible to the public, or not currently on view in museums.
His paintings can be categorized into three main time periods: the Munich period (1880-1885), Brookville period (1898-1906) and Brown County period (1907-1926). During the time between Munich and Brookville, Steele painted near Indianapolis or on sojourns to Vernon, Yountsville, Spencer and Metamora. He also painted in Vermont (1887), Tennessee (1899), and Oregon and California (1902 and 1903). For an in-depth examination of Steele's impact on Impressionism in the Midwest.
Public may visit the site at www.tcsteele.org and select "ART" on the tool bar.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Annual Member Satisfaction SurveyThe Friends fo T.C. Steele have conducted an annual member survey for feedback and continuous improvement beginning in 2018.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Annual Member Art Show
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Thia annual survey is also the best opportunity for our members to provide direct feedback to the Board of Directors – and for the Board, it is the best way for us to measure membership satisfaction.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Key Strategic Priorities for 2020-2022
#1 Increase Financial Strength
Actively promote, schedule and conduct fundraising activities to support both capital and expense needs of the historic site – be recognized as a non-profit that engages donors in a meaningful way and provides significant value for their charitable contributions
#2 Deploy Best Practices
Provide and manage the organizations with recognized administrative business practices, supporting tools and infrastructure. Proactively manage risk, data, privacy and technology infrastructure – be recognized as a best practice not-for-profit in financial, administrative, technology management and risk mitigation by leading standards and measures.
#3 Extend External Reach
Deploy marketing strategies that enable creating new relationships, recruit new members and businesses while establishing strong community partnerships in the surrounding areas - be recognized in their minds as the organization to become a sup- porter and member through involvement, knowledge and interest in the historic site.
#4 Engage Historic Site
Recruit, develop, support, recognize volunteers, and provide meaningful recognition of their contributions – be recognized as providing activities and programs that are compelling to adults and children, artists and non-artists.
#5 Provide Historic Knowledge
Establish and maintain electronic archive portal of TC Steele’s body of work, locations, dates, including books authored about the artist – be recognized as the expert data source for T.C. Steele, his life and his work.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
2030 Sustainable Development Goals that our organization is aligned with is #4 Quality Education
While we are not an educational institution we do assist with offering numerous programs for youth at the T.C. Steele Historic Site.
These can be found by visiting the "Calendar" page of the website www.tcsteele.org
An example is below:
FIRST WEEKEND CHILDREN’S TOURS AT T.C. STEELE STATE HISTORIC SITE
December 4 @ 11:15 am - 12:00 pm
Save the date! On the first weekend of every month in 2021, T.C. Steele SHS will offer a morning tour of the historic buildings especially for children and their adults, designed to serve ages 4-14! These 11:15am tours will occur on the first Saturday and first Sunday (excluding holidays or special program days) of the calendar month. To ensure tour availability, please call the site at 812.988.2785 to reserve a date and time for your tour.
An adult must accompany their child on the tour.
Due to Covid-19, tours of the historic buildings are limited to 10 people; reservations are highly encouraged! Please call the site to save your space!
Unpaid reservations are held until 5 minutes before tour time (11:10am), unless purchased in advance. Reservations not claimed by 11:10am will be released to walk-ins or next in line.
Masks are required for everyone over age 2 anytime indoors at the historic site.
Admission for special tours (the Children’s tour) is the same as standard site admission: $10/adults; $8/seniors 60+; $5/children ages 3-17. Children 0-2 are free.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Community meetings/Town halls,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
Spring 2018: Member survey conducted regarding the functionality, utility, and visual attractiveness of the Friends of T.C. Steele website; using SurveyMonkey. Complete website refresh resulted. Key Findings; Utility: 70% of donors use the site to learn more about the paintings and the Historic Site itself. Functionality: 80% of donors report that they access the site via a mobile phone and/or a tablet. Visual Attractiveness: 75% of donors indicate that the information on the website is “clear” and “easy to understand”. In contrast, 25% of the donors indicated that the information on the website is cumbersome and difficult to follow. Other Suggestions: Streamline content, Board Member information, More information on upcoming events - make information available further in advance.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 10/26/2021
P. Garrett Adams
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.
Term: 2020 - 2021
P. Adams
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.
Lane Dunagin
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.
Patricia Pizzo
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc
Benjamin Steele
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc
David Steele
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc
Betty Wagoner
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
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Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
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