What Philanthropy Trends Do Arts Leaders Need To Be Aware Of?

Gary Steuer leading a roundtable at the Americans for the Arts Convention in Nashville, 2014 (c) Americans for the Arts

At this year's Americans for the Arts convention in Nashville, which ended on Sunday, I had the pleasure of hosting two roundtable conversations on trends in philanthropy. As often happens with such occasions it provided the impetus for me to give some thought to what was I seeing in the philanthropic field that arts groups need to be aware of. This is of particular interest to me because I think all too often arts leaders are not watching closely enough overall philanthropic trends and thinking, and therefore are taken by surprise when a funder shifts course in a way that affects prospects for support. Yet these course shifts are often predictable if you are watching the winds, and if you understand where they are coming from, you may have an opportunity to make a persuasive case that your arts program can help get them where they want to go (rather than being left in the wake, to stretch the nautical metaphor further).

To help guide the conversation I prepared a list of recent articles on philanthropic trends/strategies that I felt would be helpful: Strategic Philanthropy, Effective Altruism, Collective Impact, Mission Investing, Giving While Living, and Emergent Philanthropy. I am sure there other "buzz-words" or trends I could have included - feel free to share your own in the comments. I was also informed by a recent talk by Sterling Speirn, former head of the Kellogg Foundation, who spoke at a luncheon for the Colorado Association of Funders - very informative and thought-provoking! (Here is a link to a TedX talk he gave on mission investing.) Here is my reading list:

Strategic Philanthropy (Outcome-Oriented Philanthropy) -

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/philanthropy/24337-strategic-philanthropy-so-yesterday.html

http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/strategic_philanthropy_and_the_risk_of_certainty

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/a_decade_of_outcome_oriented_philanthropy

Effective Altruism -

http://milehighculture.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-does-effective-altruism-mean-for.html

http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/the_elitist_philanthropy_of_so_called_effective_altruism

Collective Impact –

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/collective_impact

http://philanthropy.com/article/Collective-Impact-to-Solve/145441/

Impact Investing/Mission-related Investing -

http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/current-work/impact-investing

Giving While Living – Limited Life Foundations –

http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2014/high-speed-trends-in-philanthropy.aspx

Emergent Philanthropy –

http://www.ssireview.org/up_for_debate/article/strategic_philanthropy

The Greatest Sacrifice Arts Workers Make for the Arts

With all the financial challenges arts workers are facing these days - struggling to balance the budgets of their organizations, or dealing with salary and benefit cuts on compensation that was modest to begin with - it is easy to view the sacrifices people make to work in this field as being entirely financial. Not to minimize the financial sacrifices - they ARE significant - but I would argue they are probably no more significant than a wide array of professions where people choose to devote themselves to the pursuit of "making the world a better place". This includes early childhood workers, teachers, social workers, the whole world of NGOs working in challenged communities, both domestically and abroad. And the sacrifices all these workers make are also not just financial. We all work long hours, and often under trying and unglamorous circumstances (though to outsiders arts work can seem glamorous). No, I think the more significant - and unique - sacrifice arts worke

A Decade of Transformation - Reflections on my 10-year anniversary at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation

This reflection was created as part of my report to the Board of Directors at our recent quarterly board meeting. It seemed to me that it might be worth sharing more widely. So much has happened at the Foundation over the past ten years, it was a helpful exercise to try and capture those changes. I am sure I missed some! October 1, 2023, officially marked my ten-year anniversary at the Foundation. Inevitably with these milestones it is helpful to reflect on what has been accomplished, what has changed, and what remains to be done. Because this is an important and extensive story to tell, I hope you will indulge me as I share how the Foundation has transformed over these past ten years. Board/Governance I have worked with three (soon to be four) chairs in this time, starting, of course, with Lanny Martin, who led the search process that brought me to the Foundation. When I began it was a small board of five with no term limits and a Board that had not had a trustee of color in it

Denver Museum Gift Shops

About ten years ago I wrote a series of three blog posts on the phenomenon of museum gift shops, the first on Philadelphia (where I was living at the time), one on New York City (where I had previously lived and worked), and a third covering the rest of the country based on museums I had visited in my extensive national travels. I was reminded of these bog posts (which got a lot of attention at the time) by new data just shared by Colleen Dillenschneider on her great Know Your Own Bone blog - "Engagement Insights from the Museum Gift Shop: The Best Thing About Museum Retail Experiences." For the full report click on the link, but in summary the research found that the five best things from a consumer standpoint are: 5) friendly/helpful staff, 4) finding gifts for a child, 3) finding gifts for adult friend or family, 2) supporting the organization, and the number one reason is: 1) unique merchandise only available at this location. When I wrote about museum gift shops ma

Chrissy DealJune 18, 2014 at 9:13 PM
Another area of growth - giving circles in communities of color - such as those supported by the Community Investment Network (www.thecommunityinvestment.org). Everyday folks redefining philanthropy on their own terms and making in impact in the process.
Gary SteuerJune 19, 2014 at 3:43 PM
Thanks Chrissy! Great point. And I think giving circles in general are an impprtant trend. Donors - especially those with smaller giving capacity - love the idea of pooling resources for greater impact, and to meet and work with other like-minded donors. The Arts Affinity Group at the Denver Foundation is a great local example of this.

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