Philanthropic practice

“What are we doing to cultivate new generations of arts activists—artists, arts managers and arts philanthropers?” This question—often asked and long massaged—has an equal number of answers to the individuals attempting to answer it. Under the broader umbrella of inspiring young people to make a difference—through the arts or otherwise—Do Something is an organization that is effectively answering that question with meaningful action.

Founded in 2003 by GRAMMY Award-winning songwriter and producer Dallas Austin, the Dallas Austin Foundation, Inc. (DAF) aims to transform the lives of young people by enriching their educational experiences through the use of music and film.

Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London, 2008, 297 pages, Edited by Diane Grams and Betty Farrell.

20 pages, 2008. Atlantic Philanthropies. http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org

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2007, 48 Pages. FSG Social Impact Advisors, 20 Park Plaza, Suite 320, Boston, MA 02116, (617) 357-4000, www.fsg-impact.org
PDF online: www.fsg-impact.org

2007, 73 pages. The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, 5 Bennett Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, (617) 496-5675, www.ksghauser.harvard.edu

1007, 36 pages. The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, 1111 19th Street NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 467-1120, www.givingforum.org

2008, 141 pages. Council on Foundations, 2121 Crystal Drive, Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22202 (703) 879-0600, www.cof.org

This robust report features a series of essays on aspects of rural philanthropy from a diverse range of perspectives. The conclusion, by Sherece Y. West, alone is worth the price of admission. The report concludes with a summary of funding recommendations from the Council on Foundations Conference on Philanthropy and Rural America: A 21st Century Agenda, held in August 2007 in Montana.

Working at a busy foundation involves a lot of reading and listening to smart people who are working hard to improve the world we live in. One thing comes across loud and clear: how little value added is being contemporaneously realized from the definitional leaps of our unsustainably complex verbiage.

In other words, it's time for us nonprofit people to learn to MAKE IT PLAIN.

There are few moments in life when you get to experience a series of "firsts." That thought occurred to me in the Albuquerque airport as a first-time visitor to New Mexico, as well as a first-time attendee to both the GFE and GIA conferences.