Readings

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Five years ago, after more than twenty years as a nonprofit management consultant, I went back to the classroom to pursue a doctoral degree in organizational behavior. Although personal renewal was my primary goal, I was also eager to put a set of theoretical legs under two decades of consulting practice.

As the time came to choose my dissertation topic, I found myself gravitating to one of the most complex subjects in my consulting practice—the behavior of nonprofit founders.

The following remarks were presented at a symposium that was part of the 2004 Ars Electronica Festival: TIMESHIFT—The World in Twenty-Five Years. This festival for art, technology, and society was founded in 1979 and is held annually in Linz, Austria. Joan Shigekawa, associate director of Creativity and Culture at the Rockefeller Foundation, spoke on the final panel of the symposium, “TOPIA,” which was designed to “present scenarios around a wide variety of topics relating to art, technology, and society.

We are very pleased that Ruby Lerner, executive director of Creative Capital, took up the challenge of writing about anti-terrorism language in grant award letters. As an intermediary organization, Creative Capital is in the position of being both a funder and a grantee. This dual role, shared by many other GIA members, gives Ruby an especially wide view of the topic.

The full text of this article is not yet available on this site. Below is a brief excerpt.

The full text of this article is not yet available on this site.

Catherine Maciariello
This panel intends to examine the purpose and value of what we do from the personal, institutional, and public perspective. We ask your indulgence and ask you to fly with us at 35,000 feet. We are talking about relationships, multiple meanings, and civic dialogue that enable an exchange of ideas that elevate and enrich both art-making and civic life.

During the 2002 Council on Foundations annual conference, Kent (Oz) C. Nelson, the former chairman and CEO of United Parcel Service, said that he believed that all giving, even corporate giving, should come "from the heart." Several people cheered; some groaned. But, Reatha Clark King, then president of the General Mills Foundation, remarked that finding a corporation's heart is the real problem.

This essay is from an address prepared for the Music Educators National Conference, Washington, D.C., March 28, 1990.

The moniker, "Grantmakers in the Arts," could suggest that our job as funders is solely to read proposals and write checks, a straightforward transaction that takes a hiatus when the award letter goes out and revives when the final report comes in. In reality, we know that the most important work we do may take place before the proposal is even submitted and that the impact of our work only improves as the quality of our ongoing interaction with our grantees strengthens.

Recently, while sitting in a coffee shop in Chicago, I overheard a language that sounded familiar. Being a folklorist I'm sensitive to occupational language. You can blindfold me in front of conversations of cowboys or farmers and I will be able to pick out a number of things that distinguish their talk. And having a private language is not bad, it's a reality.