Conversations on Capitalization and Community Workshop

Two separate half-day sessions: one for funders and one for grantees

Defining capitalization as “the financial resources an organization needs to fulfill its mission over time,” GIA embarked on the National Capitalization Project (NCP) to seek answers to the nonprofit field's being under-capitalized. Conversations on Capitalization and Community have been held in dozens of cities engaging cultural funders in a dialogue about the financial health of nonprofit art groups in their community and how funders might better support capitalization principles for their grantees. GIA has added a three-hour companion session for grantees looking at what it means to be a well-capitalized organization achieving financial health and vibrancy within their marketplace. GIA has worked with cultural strategist and facilitator Sage Crump and arts finance consultant Rebecca Thomas & Associates to update the workshop to reflect the financial impacts of the pandemic and to do so through a racial equity lens.

The goals for Conversations on Capitalization and Community are to:

  1. Elevate knowledge of capitalization for nonprofits and their funders
  2. Provide shared vocabulary that granters and grantees use to inform and transform grantmaking and nonprofit financial practices
  3. Provide insights into having effective dialogues between funders and grantees
  4. Facilitate discussion with funders and nonprofits about their community’s capital drivers, their institutional values and practices, and the ways that each entity fits into the arts eco-system
  5. Create a greater sense of complementary practice and camaraderie for a stronger, healthier arts and culture ecosystem.
Emiko Ono, Program Director, Performing Arts, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation has said that Grantmakers in the Arts’ Conversations on Capitalization and Community Workshop is among the most influential work that she has participated in. “It changed the way I think about my responsibilities as a funder,” says Ono. “The workshop gave us a philosophy around financials along with a shared language that is easy to communicate. We evolved the financial information we collect from applicants and expanded how we talk with and support grantees.”

Attendees

Funder Session (3 hours) Arts funders, large and small, private and public, that are invested in the wellbeing of the nonprofit arts sector.

Grantee/Nonprofit Session (3 hours) Arts and cultural nonprofit organizations, large and small.

Sessions can be conducted in-person or online.

Instructors/Facilitators

National recognized arts finance consultant, Rebecca Thomas of Rebecca Thomas & Associates (formerly with Nonprofit Finance Fund) and senior staff from Grantmakers in the Arts will lead the sessions.

Local Partner(s)

GIA works with a local partner or partners in each city or region to produce the online or in-person workshops.

Contact

For more information on format, timing and costs, contact workshops@giarts.org.