2024 Trustees’ Award for Organizational Excellence: Historic Columbia

Historic Columbia is a private, non-profit preservation advocacy organization founded in 1961. Since then, it has evolved into a community leader with world-class facilities and programming. Through strategic partnerships, they engage previously underrepresented people and communities in preservation initiatives that range from bricks-and-mortar rehabilitation and restoration, to the recording of lost buildings and people.

In addition to stewarding five historic sites, Historic Columbia has successfully submitted the Columbia Historic Commercial District and Melrose Heights-Fairview-Oaklawn district in the National Register, and established the Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative, the LGBTQ Columbia History Initiative, and the Columbia City of Women Initiative. Its commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in its Board of Trustees; seven of the fifteen members are persons of color, and eight identify as women. Historic Columbia's membership has grown from 400 in 2004 to more than 900 today.