The following is an announcement from the Ontario Genealogical Society:
The OGS Board is pleased to announce that the Ontario Genealogical Society has received a $185 000, two-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, receives annually $100 million of government funding generated through Ontario's charity casino initiative.
The objective of the grant is to achieve the following results:
- improved customer service for membership
- improved membership levels
- operational efficiencies
- increased sales of publications, products, and services
- increased access to genealogical information for members and the general public
- increased communication with members, Branches, and customers
- improved IT skills among staff and volunteers
- increased volunteer involvement
In the past year the OGS Strategic Planning Committee and the former Executive Director Ken Bird have created a multi-year development plan. This grant will fund a substantial portion of that plan. The first stage of this plan will see the replacement of the computer system in the Provincial Office and the installation of new programs to handle financial and membership functions. This stage will golive (be fully operational) by Oct 1, in time to be used for the 2007 membership renewal.
The second stage, largely overlapping the first, will result in a complete re-design and re-write of the OGS website. Two significant new areas will be added: a members area, and a storefront. The members area will allow members to view their membership information and to renew on line. New members will be able to join OGS and all Branches on line. This part will golive by Nov 1 so that members can use it to renew their 2007 memberships. The storefront will allow the on line sale of all material that the Provincial Office and Branches wish to place on it. It is expected to be operational in the spring of 2007 although it will take a while to get the several thousand OGS books into the system.
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