Museums’ Organisational Health Check

The Museums’ Organisational Health Check (OHC) is a self-assessment tool for museums that is used across all the English Regions by Museum Development England. It is designed as an indicator to help you highlight your museum’s strengths, understand where your museum has areas of development and feed into your forward planning.  This will enable you to prioritise areas of work over the next 12 months and focus your work with Museum Development North.

We encourage museums that are applying for a grant from Museum Development North to complete an OHC review.

We believe it is an excellent tool for museums that are going through a period of growth, reflection or change. This could be if your museum is considering a new project, if you are working with Museum Development North for the first time or when you are reviewing your business plan. Our experience suggests it is also useful for museums applying for Accreditation for the first time or shortly after your successful application to help you reflect.

How to take part 
The OHC will need a commitment of time from your trustees or management team so please plan for your participation.

The OHC will involve some preparatory thinking by the museum and a half day onsite workshop with your trustees, managers or a cross-section of your organisation. This workshop will be led by a member of the MD North team. After the meeting, we will provide you with a short report based on your discussions and a series of recommendations to review. These recommendations will often signpost you to a range of different support offers.

If you would like to take part in an OHC, get in touch with your Museum Development Advisor and then fill out a short EOI (Expression of Interest).  This will help us work out which member of our team is best placed to run the workshop with you.