2019 Winners | Green’s Windmill Trust
Green’s Windmill Trust
Winner – Improving Impact: Charities with 0-3 paid staff
Who they are
Green’s Windmill Trust – winner of a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – is located in Nottingham, and operates Green’s Windmill (a fully-restored and working 19th-century tower mill). The Trust furthers the educational and public activities of the Green’s Windmill Science Centre, promoting George Green’s scientific reputation and preserving the UK’s milling heritage. The Trust was formed in 2012 to continue operations at the mill, saving the Windmill from closure by Nottingham City Council. The Trust has seven trustees and employs two members of staff. A 50+ team of hardworking, dedicated and passionate volunteers help keep the Windmill open to the public and have helped raise more than £170,000. Entry is free, providing an exceptional educational and heritage resource to its 24,000 annual visitors.
What they’ve achieved
The Trust was formed in order to intervene in the fate of the heritage site and secure its future. Trustees wanted Green’s Windmill to have a positive impact on the local community, build a strong reputation within Nottingham’s cultural heritage landscape, and strengthen community partnerships with local schools, social groups and other charities. Since the board began monitoring its impact in 2013, the Windmill’s number of public events as increased by nearly 25%, the number of visitors to the Windmill has increased by more than 191%, visitors regularly award the attraction four- or five-star reviews, and a new booking system has been implemented to meet the demand for entry or participation in events. Green’s Windmill has been recognised with the TripAdvisor “Certificate of Excellence” (2014-2018), Green Flag Community Award (2018), Britain in Bloom Level 5 Award (2018), Marsh Trust Volunteers for Museum Learning Regional Winner (2016), and several other awards.
Why they won
Green’s Windmill Trust is an organisation making progress to identify issues and seek feedback, and to use that knowledge to improve what they do. For the judges, this commitment to understanding what was working for audiences and responding to their needs set Green’s Windmill Trust apart from other entries. The board defined what success would look like from the beginning, recruiting and appointing trustees specific experience and skills to help them achieve their goals, appointing a heritage development officer to manage day-to-day operations, and strengthening the volunteer programme to carry out meaningful support roles for the charity. Working closely with volunteers to research and respond to community and visitor needs, trustees have been diligent in monitoring their impact as they’ve transformed the charity. In addition to their own monitoring and feedback procedures, they sought out external evaluation by partnering with Nottingham Trent University to support a MA student researcher from the Museum and Heritage Management programme to undertake an external review of the Mill, investigating feedback from volunteers and visitors and making recommendations to improve visitor services and design a marketing strategy – recommendations that were largely implemented or will be implemented in the future. The board’s commitment to improvement and feedback has allowed the Green’s Windmill Trust to remain relevant to the local community and to meet their needs.
