Donna Ann Harris's Page
Profile Information
- School / Library / Organization Affiliation
- Heritage Consulting Inc
- http://donnaannharris
- About Me
- Heritage Consulting Inc. is a Philadelphia-based Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) boutique consulting firm that provides assistance to non-profit organizations and government agencies nationwide in the following practice areas: downtown and commercial district revitalization, historic preservation, tourism product development, and non-profit organizational development. Donna Ann Harris is the firm principal and she works with several interns year-round.
Prior to starting her firm ten years ago, Ms. Harris was State Coordinator for the Illinois Main Street program for two years and the Manager of the Illinois suburban Main Street program for four years. During her tenure as State Coordinator, Ms. Harris served 56 Illinois Main Street communities, led a staff of 12, and managed a budget of over a million dollars.
Since 2004, Ms. Harris has worked with state, countywide, and local Main Street programs in 23 states. She has spoken for the last ten years at the National Main Street Center annual conference, and at the International Downtown Association annual meetings in 2008, 2009, and 2013. Ms. Harris has published five feature articles in the National Main Street Center’s quarterly journal Main Street News. These include; “Illinois Main Street Back on Track: Case Studies” (July/August 2012); “Make Your Case: Triple Your Membership” (September/October 2010); "Make More Money from Members," (August, 2008); “Is a BID Feasible for Your Town? Ten Questions to Ponder,” (April 2007); “A Valiant Effort” and “What You Can Do, Lessons From Illinois Main Street,” (both in January 2005).
Ms. Harris has focused on the Organization point since starting her consulting practice. She has provided a wide variety of fundraising consultations based on this point for Main Street communities throughout the country. Her services include: fundraising audits; fundraising plans; special improvement district development and implementation; work plans for fundraising activities, membership, and annual gifts. She has written four feature articles for Main Street Now on fundraising topics (see below), and five Main Street Story of the Week articles on fundraising or organizational development topics. She has also provided day long training programs for state coordinating programs since starting her practice.
Prior to her Main Street career, Ms. Harris spent 15 years as an executive director of three start-ups and two mature historic preservation organizations. In these positions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, she began membership drives; lead strategic planning efforts, public relations and a capital campaign; raised more than $3.75 million in grants; managed staffs ranging in size from two to ten; and was responsible for organizational, project, and endowment budgets of up to $2.6 million.
As a preservation planner with more than 30 years of professional experience, Ms. Harris has assisted citizen groups and government agencies to identify appropriate reuses for threatened historic properties that will ensure the long-term preservation and maintenance of the site. In the past ten years, Ms. Harris has been speaking about and consulting with historic house museums around the country about alternative uses and stewardship responsibilities. Altamira Press published her book New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America’s Historic Houses in 2007. Ms. Harris has published articles about reuse of historic house museums in History News, the quarterly magazine of the American Association for State and Local History; and Forum Journal, the quarterly journal of the National for Historic Preservation. In the past ten years, Ms. Harris has spoken at more than 35 national, regional, and statewide conferences about her house museum research. In 2011, Heritage Consulting Inc. won the prestigious Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia for its yearlong project, the Delaware County (PA) Public History Feasibility Study and Implementation Plan.
Heritage Consulting Inc. has also completed extensive consumer and stakeholder surveys for downtown revitalization clients such as Main Street Vineland (NJ), Downtown Hightstown (NJ), and the Downtown Somerville Alliance (NJ).
Ms. Harris earned a Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from Columbia University in New York City, and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She holds a BA in American Studies and Art History from the State University of New York at Albany. Ms. Harris’ experience meets or exceeds the minimum professional qualifications defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 61, Appendix A) for an architectural historian.
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