Funding Research

This article takes a close look at certain internal dynamics that generally accompany "capacity-building" activities. I draw on my experience, over two decades, designing, managing, and evaluating programs aimed at increasing the organizational health of nonprofit arts organizations. Both my work in the arts and a prior career as a family counselor inform my understanding of the ways that the thought processes of nonprofit managers change when capacity-building programs are successful and have an enduring impact.

"Capacity grantmaking"

A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts
Kevin F. McCarthy and Kimberly Jinnett, RAND, 2001,
112 pages, 310-451-7002, order@rand.org.

Another research report lands on your desk. Do you make time to read it, or does it add to a growing pile of things-to-read-someday?

2002, 32 pages. U.S. President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 526, Washington, D.C., 202-682-5409, 202-682-5668 fax.

2001, 345 pages. The MIT Press.

2001, 157 pages, $25. The New Press, New York.

2001, 80 pages, $7.00. Dance/USA, Washington, DC, 1156 15th Street, N.W., Suite 820, Washington, D.C. 20005-1704, 202-833-1717, danceusa@danceusa.org.

2001-2002, 51 pages. Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, P.O. Box 10169, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504, 505-988-3251.

The Reader rarely reviews foundations' annual reports, but makes exceptions on occasion — in this case for the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry's reaching its 30th year of grantmaking. The handsome 2001 Witter Bynner commemorative report is engaging to read, and presents grant descriptions alongside poems by supported writers, presses, students, and presenting programs.

The magnitude and distribution of foundation arts and culture grants in 2000 are the most significant findings of this report. Key findings of the report, based on arts grants of $10,000 or more reported to the Foundation Center by 1,010 of the larger U.S. foundations, are highlighted here.

This report also includes a brief examiniation of the growth of foundation giving from 1996 to 2000.

Download:

 Arts Funding Snapshot 2000 (1.7Mb)

April, 2001, 45 pages. The Surdna Foundation.

More than Bit Players, commissioned by the Surdna Foundation, examines how Information Technology (IT) changes the way that organizations, including nonprofit organizations, work. The report offers suggestions for grantmakers who are assessing proposals for projects based on information technology and discusses ways to put costs and timing into perspective.

The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture by John Seabrook
2000, 215 pages, Alfred A. Knopf

American Culture, American Tastes Social Change and the Twentieth Century by Michael Kammen
1999, 320 pages, Basic Books