…delivering The Postal Museum

Adrian Steel and Vicky Parkinson

A Question of Trust: The Best Business Archive for the British

Postal Service

…delivering The Postal Museum

UK Postal Service

…delivering The Postal Museum

Need For Change PLC = no protection for the

museum collection = unlikely to receive external funding

Poor business performance = constraints – budget, people

Archive and museum management very different needs to managing mail

…delivering The Postal Museum

Risks /Opportunities

• Loss of parent support net• ‘Out of sight, out of mind’?• Risk to continuity of the

archive• Loss of funder of last resort• Freedom to spend and act

in best interests of archive• Freedom to staff• Freedom to raise funds

…delivering The Postal Museum

Trading Company

• Trust sets up company to earn commercial revenue; profits given to charity

• Risk of trading activities safely in different vehicle to collections

• Add appropriate expertise to board• Opportunity to exploit potential of collections &

staff knowledge• Dependent upon

use of IP in collections

…delivering The Postal Museum

Advocacy

• Internal: • first task is not to make a

mess of it!• Make sure everyone knows

of your successes• Link success to business

benefit very clearly• Don’t miss chance to

explain charitable status• Become a service provider

of choice• Involve wider internal

stakeholders e.g. government

• External: • External profile helps with

internal profile• exploit freedoms to fullest

advantage• Opportunity to partner for

greater benefit• Able to join in with media

zeitgeist / all sector-wide campaigns

• Direct access to media

…delivering The Postal Museum

Service Level Agreement

• Archive service provided back to Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd via service contract

• Annual targets and ongoing service levels

• Performance measured in regular meetings

• We relieve their legal obligation

• Records management & info governance as well as archival service

…delivering The Postal Museum

Board of Trustees

• Ensure protection of the archive as a national treasure

• Encourage wider access beyond that required simply by terms of contracts

• Ensure archive and museum collections joined up to exploit as fully as possible

…delivering The Postal Museum

Capital project

• Current archive home has many problems!• Royal Mail / Post Office put up finance and donate building

for new home• BPMA raises funds and designs/delivers wider facility• Independent view ensures what is best for collections and

access

…delivering The Postal Museum

Funding contract

• Long term archive service agreement supports trust and fundraising

• Index linked funding to 2040

• Have to ensure long term agreement does not lead to complacency

• Ensure funding goes where it is supposed to go!

…delivering The Postal Museum

Hindsight

• Type and quality of board / board members is crucial

• Maintain good relations with parent – don’t go all out to stand alone

• It has taken longer than we originally hoped – be prepared for setbacks

• Maintaining your own good staff is crucial