Philanthropic practice

At the annual GIA conference last fall, a group of twenty or so participants gathered together for a roundtable session devoted to funding individual immigrant and traditional artists. Organized by staff or board members of the Bush Foundation and the Flintridge Foundation, the roundtable session provided one of the first opportunities for foundation program officers engaged in this type of support to share information and to identify common concerns and strategies to meet them. And, indeed, common concerns and themes did emerge in the discussion.

When we initiated an artist award program at The Durfee Foundation a few years ago, we decided to use financial need as one of several criteria for support. Durfee is a relatively small family foundation, and the trustees feel strongly that the foundation's modest resources should be applied where they will make the most difference. This is true across the board at the foundation, not only in the arts, but in our other programs as well.

2000, 18 pages, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), 45 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101, (651) 290-1262.

Minnesota Public Radio, as a collaboration between its Civic Journalism Initiative and the program Sound Money, brought together more than 100 individuals, ranging from leading thinkers in the philanthropic field to new Microsoft millionaires, last September for a day-long summit to explore what it thought would be interesting fodder for discussion: the untapped giving potential in the United States.

Cultural Policy Research was the topic of two breakfast roundtables at GIA's 2000 conference in Minneapolis. A combination of scheduled presenters and other participants gave brief summaries of current research underway. The cumulative impact of hearing about so many projects at the same time inspired Reader editors to want to share the reports with our readers. This overview does not pretend to be exhaustive, but rather is a snapshot based on roundtable participation and the ability of the following report contributors to respond quickly to our invitation. We extend many thanks to them.

This paper was originally given at the 1987 Conference on Private Philanthropy and the Social Good. It was brought to our attention by a GIA member, and is reprinted here with permission from Cambridge University Press and the estate of Michael Hooker. © 1987 Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation.

GIA is pleased to announce the publication of Creative Family Giving in the Arts, the second volume in its series of Field Resource Books. The book portrays a variety of innovative programs of support for the arts and artists, and emphasizes giving by small family foundations and programs that make grants under $10,000. The project was co-chaired by Kathleen O'Grady of the O'Grady Foundation and Mercy Pavelic' of the Heathcote Art Foundation.

Policy Perspectives for Individuals, Institutions, and Communities
Edited by Gigi Bradford, Michael Gary, and Glenn Wallach
2000, 364 pages, $18.95 paper. The New Press, New York.

1999, 23 pages. Final report of collaborative research project, Millennium Communications Group, Inc., 58 Salem Street, Andover, Massachusetts 01810.

Although its main focus seems to be on exploring ways of expanding philanthropy among new donors, Philanthropy's Current and New Stakeholders: Building a Common Vision for an Expanded Future also offers some interesting — and disturbing — observations on how traditional philanthropy is viewed.

A recently released study of giving in Hawai'i confirms what many culture and arts groups in the state already know — it's hard to raise money! A local firm, SMS Research, conducted the study for Hawai'i Community Foundation in spring 1999. Titled Hawai'i Giving Study 1999, the study's purpose was to better understand charitable giving among Hawai'i residents.

How can the arts promote positive social change? That's what the staff and board of the Kentucky Foundation for Women wanted to find out. We thought we knew. Or at least we thought we had a pretty good idea. After all, our mission is to promote positive social change through varied feminist expression in the arts, and we have been around for fifteen years.