Advancement · Community & Giving

Save the old schoolhouse
the right way.

Community preservation work goes wrong in predictable ways: cleanup started without the owner’s permission, a repair that destroys what made the place historic, or money that runs out halfway. Add each project with its owner, listing, budget and funding. The organizer totals the money and flags the permissions, reviews and methods to sort out before anyone picks up a tool.

Add a projectWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Development and giving kit, $39 for 19 items.

Your projects

The worked example is made up: an 1890s schoolhouse on the National Register, about half funded, and a volunteer cemetery cleanup with no known owner. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Advancement · Community & Giving$12

What you finish with
A record per project: the place, kind, owner, listing, federal involvement, threat, budget, funding sources with amounts and status, partners and nine steps. Totals funding received, pledged and applied for and the share of the budget covered; flags missing owner permission, listed places without the Standards, Section 106, thin funding and cemetery cleaning methods.
Who it is for
Historical societies, community groups, scout and service projects, teachers leading place-based projects and local officials.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per project. Prints one project, every project in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Development and giving kit ($39) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Community & Giving space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Add the place and find out who owns it.
  2. Get written permission before any work.
  3. Document and assess the condition first.
  4. Contact the State Historic Preservation Office.
  5. Fund the most urgent repair first, then phase the rest.

Add a project

Four treatments

The four treatments, from the Interior StandardsPreservationKeep what isthere.Maintain andrepair existingmaterials.RehabilitationAdapt for a newuse.Keep the featuresthat make ithistoric.RestorationReturn it to oneperiod.Remove laterchanges, withevidence.ReconstructionRebuild what isgone.Only with gooddocumentation.The four treatmentsPreservationKeep what is there.Maintain and repair existing materials.RehabilitationAdapt for a new use.Keep the features that make it historic.RestorationReturn it to one period.Remove later changes, with evidence.ReconstructionRebuild what is gone.Only with good documentation.
Most volunteer projects are preservation: the least change, and the safest choice when unsure.

Section 106

When a project uses federal money or needs a federal permit or license, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act requires the federal agency to consider its effects on historic places, working with the State Historic Preservation Office. Raise it at the start, not after a grant is awarded.

Cemeteries

Many old cemeteries have unclear owners and are protected by state law. Get permission, photograph and map every stone before cleaning, and leave resetting or repairing stones to people trained in it. The National Park Service’s preservation center publishes cleaning guidance.

Sources

  1. National Park Service. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (2017 revision) (nps.gov).
  2. National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106, 54 U.S.C. 306108, and 36 CFR part 800; Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (achp.gov).
  3. National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. Cemetery monument conservation and cleaning guidance (ncptt.nps.gov).
  4. National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. Find your SHPO (ncshpo.org).

The worked examples are made up. State and local preservation and cemetery laws vary and are not stated here; the State Historic Preservation Office is the place to ask. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.