Weeksville Heritage Center

Originally founded in 1838 in Central Brooklyn, Weeksville was one of the largest free Black communities in pre-Civil War America. Following a period of relative obscurity throughout the 20th century, the buildings now known as the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses were rediscovered in the late 1960s, and in 1970, Weeksville Heritage Center (WHC) was established as a nonprofit dedicated to their preservation. Today, Weeksville Heritage Center is an historic site and cultural center that uses education, arts, and a social justice lens to preserve, document and inspire engagement with the history of Weeksville and the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses.

In 2019, just two years before their 50th anniversary, Weeksville Heritage Center was approaching a financial cliff. Without a significant shift in revenue, the organization would face bankruptcy. As a stop-gap measure, the organization launched a “Save Weeksville” campaign, which provided temporary relief and allowed Weeksville to continue operations. Following the campaign, the organization sought a partner who could establish and steward a sustainable development strategy to avoid a future financial crisis.

Weeksville engaged Advance Collaborative to provide comprehensive development and financial management services, which included, at the outset, a focused assessment of staffing, salaries, and role responsibilities; customized materials for Board development; and strategic prospecting in individual, institutional, and corporate lines. Throughout our partnership of more than five years, Advance Collaborative guided the organization’s overall fundraising strategy while also implementing that strategy through a combination of:

• Grant management, prospecting, and writing;
• Donor outreach & engagement, including regular appeals and a revised corporate membership program;
• Event design & planning for quarterly donor events as well as a relaunched annual Gala; and
• Board management, including operational support for Committees.

In the early stages of our work, Advance Collaborative focused on bolstering institutional and individual giving, introducing new corporate support, relaunching the gala after a hiatus, and building a fundraising Board. Following these successes, Weeksville had the great honor to become the first new member of New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) in over 20 years. Throughout our work together, WHC increased its overall contributed income by more than 85% and received a multi-year commitment of $1.1M—the largest in the organization’s 50+ year history. Perhaps most importantly, WHC moved from an organization in financial crisis in the spring of 2019, to an organization with a cash reserve and surplus.