Happy New Year! As we begin 2025, we wanted to take a moment to look back at what we’ve done over the past year. Please have a look at NDSA’s accomplishments – and feel free to reach out to NDSA with any questions on how you can get involved!

NDSA Leadership

NDSA Leadership has achieved significant milestones this year, with a focus on refining our mission and vision and growing NDSA into a more fully-fledged professional organization in response to members’ stated support needs.

In January 2024, NDSA Leadership released an RFI seeking expressions of interest from potential new host organizations. Over the course of the RFI process, we have been exploring alignment with other organizations, assessing their suitability as long-term hosts – and clarifying what NDSA can bring to the table for its host organization. To that end, in June 2024, we updated NDSA’s foundational strategy and outlined specific activities and initiatives to be completed in the next 3-5 years that will strengthen and stabilize NDSA’s shared governance, enhance membership services and outreach, and increase transparency through new communication strategies.

After the exploratory conversations kicked off through the RFI, in June we established a recurring monthly meeting with our prospective new host, with the goal of establishing a sustainable funding model and business plan. Together, we developed and conducted a member fee survey to assess members’ willingness and ability to sustain the organization through various types of financial contributions. Preliminary analysis of the survey data supports a fee-for-membership model as one element of a set of diverse funding sources, and underlines NDSA’s need for financial resilience. We hope to release a fuller report documenting the survey findings in the coming months.

Concurrently with the member fee survey, we also submitted a preliminary proposal for an IMLS planning grant in September. If awarded, the grant funding would allow NDSA to hire a part-time program coordinator who will assist with developing a business plan and transitioning NDSA to a fully self-funded model. We plan to begin drafting the full grant proposal soon, with anticipated milestones stretching into 2025.

Finally, NDSA Leadership is currently working on updated public governance documentation, integrating updates to bylaws and clarifying roles within the Coordinating Committee (CC). On the recommendation of the Membership Working Group, which suggested several improvements to the NDSA member experience, we have decided to add a CC Secretary role to oversee critical records, and we are establishing a Standing Membership Group that will focus on approving and onboarding new members – and supporting all NDSA members through enhanced outreach. Look for announcements about these efforts coming soon!

Membership Updates

NDSA welcomed eight new members in 2024, representing a diverse mix of academic, commercial, and nonprofit organizations:

  • Anderson Archival
  • Digital Life Advisors
  • Mississippi Digital Library
  • The Gates Preserve
  • The Archive and Heritage Digital Curation Group
  • Webrecorder LLC
  • Museum of Glass
  • George Washington’s Mount Vernon

As existing members, the new year is a good time to make sure your organization’s contact information is up to date. A simple form is available to assist with this process.

Stay tuned for a recap of the activities and accomplishments that our Interest Groups and Working Groups achieved in 2024!

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