The Project
Your donation will fund the construction of a free, online resource called the Presonomics Open Access Repository (POAR). This tool will organize all extant preservation economics case studies from communities all over the world into one centralized, easy-to-use online resource.
POAR will include studies from every state in the United States that has been studied for "presonomics" as well as corresponding publications from all over the world.
Learn more about our organization here: http://www.presonomics.org/
Primary Goal: $10,000
Stretch Goal: $40,000
Presonomics is a nonprofit startup that wants to spread the word that historic places are worth saving, and we think the best way to do that is to show that saving places can also save money. A lot of people look at old buildings and all they can see is a place with all kind of quirks and issues. People don’t think about how they were originally built to be energy efficient, or about how they have stood the test of time and proved that they are solidly made. And they probably never even considered the many sources of revenue that are available for keeping that beautiful old building.
For generations, a sense of place was really what we used to define ourselves and interact with our community. We went down to the five and dime to get a soda and talk to our neighbors, to the library to learn and explore. We went to our downtown districts to eat and to shop and to be with others. But what’s happening to these places? They are devalued and disappearing, replaced by buildings that don’t share that same sense of integrity and aren’t made to last more than a decade without major renovations.
Presonomics wants to put powerful tools in the hands of the public. Our first project is to build a an online repository of all the research and case studies ever done that relate to the economics of historic preservation. As part of the Open Access movement, we want to make our repository easily accessible and free---something that you can access from anywhere to show the facts about the positive consequences of saving historic places. We want to be able to work with communities to keep their local history and flavor, and to be able to go to decision makers with facts in hand and say, “Yes, it actually makes sense economically to keep these places.”
There have been plenty of “presonomics” studies, but there isn’t really one free and easy place to go to find them all. And in our age of over-information, it’s hard to tell what’s going to be useful without a lot of time and energy and really knowing how to do it. For the first time ever, we want you to be able to bring your love of history into the future, and to be armed with a powerful tool that you can use to show the value of historic places.
We want to have preservation success stories. We want to reclaim the past, and to preserve these traditions to keep them alive for future generations. We want you to be a part of saving money by saving places.
Are you sure?
