HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SEATTLE & KING COUNTY
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?
K-12 Education Programs
Each year MOHAI serves more than 17,000 K-12 students through our onsite and outreach programs. Field trips to the museum include hands-on experiences that are aligned with state standards. Portable museum rentals bring artifacts and lesson plans to the classroom.
Exhibits
The museum includes a core exhibit on the history of the Puget Sound as well as temporary exhibits that focus on a particular aspect of our region or country's history. Many exhibits are curated, designed and built by our Exhibits team; some travel to other museums throughout the state of Washington. In addition, MOHAI brings in traveling exhibits from other museums, such as the Smithsonian.
Collections
MOHAI's three-dimensional collection is comprised of some 100,000 objects. As at most other museums, visitors will see only about 2% of the museum's total collection at any given time; the remaining 98% is held in storage for future exhibits, research and study, and preservation. The museum's photo collection numbers more than 3 million images. Our collection spans the history of photography, from delicately rendered nineteenth-century daguerreotypes to digital images created yesterday. Finally, our library and archives include manuscripts and archival holdings, maps, books, posters, motion pictures and printed ephemera. All of these items need proper storage, care, and preservation.
Public Programs
From lectures and workshops to History Cafes and MOHAI Minutes, MOHAI's public programs are designed to reach a wide and diverse audience both at the museum and beyond our walls.
Where we work
This profile needs more info.
If it is your nonprofit, add geographic service areas to create a map on your profile.
Login and updateAwards
Outstanding Historic Preservation Project in Washington State 2013
Governor's Historic Preservation Awards
Outstanding Historic Preservation Project in Seattle 2013
Historic Seattle
Outstanding Construction Project over $20 million 2013
Association of General Contractors
Outstanding Multimedia Installation for the Great Seattle Fire Theater 2013
American Alliance of Museums
Best Exhibit in Washington State for True Northwest: The Seattle Journey 2013
Washington Museums Association
True Northwest: The Seattle Journey 2013
American Association of State and Local History National Merit Award
Platinum Certification 2013
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council
Affiliations & memberships
American Association of Museums - Member 2013
External reviews
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
MOHAI’s engaging exhibits and programs, its collection of nearly four million historic artifacts and photographs, its document archives, its oral histories, and its award-winning educational programs have created a greater public understanding of the Northwest's fascinating cultural, social, and economic history. MOHAI maintains a broad vision and works collaboratively with numerous history, heritage, and cultural organizations throughout the region.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
MOHAI provides a full spectrum of programs that make local history valuable, relevant, and engaging to the scholar and general public member alike.
COLLECTIONS: The museum’s photographic archive of more than 3.3 million images is unique for its variety, and the depth it brings to recounting the stories of Northwest history. MOHAI’s three-dimensional collection includes more than 100,000 artifacts that represent all periods of Seattle history; the range of items includes maritime equipment, vehicles, furniture, fine art, decorative arts, toys, recreational equipment, clothing and textiles and everyday household items.
AWARD-WINNING EXHIBITS: MOHAI works with the community to explore issues in regional and national history, and their impact on our lives today. The museum offers important national and international traveling exhibits as well as exhibitions that are created by MOHAI’s staff and local advisors. MOHAI’s core exhibit “True Northwest: The Seattle Journey” received the Washington Museum Association’s Best Exhibit in Washington State, and the American Association of State and Local History’s Award of Merit.
MOHAI's new Bezos Center for Innovation is an exciting new highlight of the MOHAI experience, where visitors will explore the powerful story of innovation in Seattle, and young people will discover the innovator within themselves featuring interactive experiences and special insights from some of Seattle's leading-edge innovators.
QUALITY EDUCATION PROGRAMS: in-museum and classroom outreach programs serve more than 17,000 K-12 students annually and are aligned with state learning standards giving students skills of critical thinking and analysis through historical exploration. We ensure accessibility by keeping all of our Education Programs affordable to schools overall and by offering scholarship support and bus subsidies to schools where more than 40% of students are eligible for the federal Free/Reduced Lunch program.
History’s Hard Work: Grades K – 2
Cracking the History Code: Salish Stories: Grades 3 – 5
The Significance of Salmon (with the Center for Wooden Boats): Grades 5 – 8
PUBLIC PROGRAMS: MOHAI presents a slate of interesting, hands-on inquiry based programs to engage the broader public in exploring history. MOHAI’s programs include an assortment of lectures, workshops, historic tours, panel discussions, and family-focused activities – all of which are low- or no-cost for participants. Programs include:
Seattle Antifreeze: a place to meet new people, learn about Seattle and practical tips,DIY History workshops, and the What’s Next Seattle Competition invites visitors to share their solutions to issues facing Seattle as a part of the Bezos Center for Innovation.
LIBRARY: Through the Sophie Frye Bass History Research Library, MOHAI offers access to historical documents and photographs to researchers, students, media, and amateur and professional historians alike. Library staff serves more than 2,800 people each year.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In 1974 MOHAI received accreditation from the American Association of Museums and became a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2010. The museum achieved LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building. MOHAI is one of only 8 LEED platinum projects in the region, and one of only four museums in the nation.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Our key performance indicator—attendance at the museum—continues to stay strong, and far above our own ambitious projections. At the end of August, admission at the turnstile had surpassed 200,000 visitors, in addition to tens of thousands of students and special event attendees. Paid attendance is about eight times greater than the comparable period at our former Montlake location; and four times greater than what we anticipated in our 2013 business plan. Membership and external events are also significantly above projections. 3,650 guests visited MOHAI on August’s Free First Thursday making it the third busiest day of the year.
Another major indicator—serving students and their teachers—has exceeded goal as well. Education programs sold out in the most recent school year and over the summer, serving over 17,000 students. Teachers told us,
•“This was one of the best field trips we have been on. My students love it and learned so much. The interactive play was a great way for them to be involved with history of Seattle during the fires.”
•“Everything was interesting, and carefully observing my kids, they were all so interested in all the things that they have seen and read.”
•“Loved how interactive the programs were. Thank you for the free passes so students could return with family.”
In a MOHAI survey of several thousand visitors and members this spring, the new museum scored a 4.5 out of 5 in terms of customer satisfaction, which is consistent with external surveys as well. MOHAI recently received the Certificate of Excellence recognition from TripAdvisor, with a 4.5 out of 5 score (placing us in the top 10% worldwide for visitor feedback). Yelp reviews give us a score of 4 out of 5. The Seattle Times picked MOHAI as one of Seattle’s Top Ten summer attractions; Red Tricycle’s Hot List for Awesome Museums’ for kids and families ranked MOHAI number one in Seattle. MOHAI received national recognition from the American Association of State and Local History for our core exhibit True Northwest: The Seattle Journey, and earlier this year MOHAI was recognized as an outstanding historic preservation project by Washington State and Historic Seattle.
MOHAI launched the Bezos Center for Innovation, focusing on the history and future of invention and creativity in our region, with a special emphasis on connecting school kids to the tradition of innovation in Seattle. Programs include Family Lab programs; Innovation themed miniMOHAI; and new Innovation Packs for young people exploring the new museum. .
Community Gallery and Programs—In 2013-2014, MOHAI is developing special community-focused exhibits and programs in partnership with Arts Corps, the Floating Homes Association, the Gay and Lesbian community, the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, the Black Heritage Society, the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society and more;.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
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
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SEATTLE & KING COUNTY
Board of directorsas of 06/27/2016
Mrs. Linda Johnson
Mr. Chuck Nordhoff
Linda Johnson
Community Volunteer
Jim Rupp
Retired, Fluke Corporation
Marcia Williams
University of Washington School of Public Health
Andrew Bor
Perkins Coie
Van Strom
Liberty Development and Investments
Sandra Boyd
Community Volunteer
Bob Hentges
Creekside Land Company
Linda Larson
Marten Law
Tom McQuaid
Nordic Cold Storage
Tim Nelson
Nelson Realty Advisors
Chuck Nordhoff
Community Volunteer
Chad Richardson
Enrico Products
Carl Lind
Retired, U.S. Army
Frank Immell
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
Monette Hearn
Black Heritage Society of Washington State
R. Miller Adams
Retired, Integral Systems, Inc.
Cory Finnell
Big Fish Games
Maureen Frisch
Retired, Green Diamond Resource Company
Margaret Heldring
America's Health Together
Dana Northcott
Amazon
Rebecca MacLeod
B2Launch, Marketing & PR
Mike Repass
Real Estate Development
Al Young
Al Young Racing
Warren King George
Muckleshoot Tribe
David Jones
Expedia (Retired)
Mike Stanley
Seneca Group
Maria Denny
Community Volunteer
Enrique Gonzalez
El Centro de la Raza
David Law
Skellenger Bender, Principal
Jave Ragan
Wells Fargo Bank, Vice President
Michael Lombardi
Boeing Company, Corporate Historian
Jack Root
GM Nameplate, Visual Media Director
Ben Straley
Starbucks, VP, Digital Products
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
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 -
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