Grantmakers in the Arts

Phoenix Art Museum Names Amada Cruz as Executive Director
by Steve

From Kerry Lengel, writing for the Arizona Republic:

San Antonio Artpace executive director Amada Cruz was named Monday to guide the Phoenix Art Museum, a $9 million-a-year non-profit, which brings 200,000 visitors a year to Phoenix. Cruz, 53, who was born in Havana, has extensive experience in both the arts and non-profit worlds and starts work February 1. First on her to-do list, Cruz said, is a "crash course" on Phoenix's culture and history.
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Study Asks "Is Grantmaking Getting Smarter?"
by SuJ'n

A study released by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Is Grantmaking Getting Smarter?, showed that grantmakers are making shifts on how they support their grantees. Among these shifts is the increasing support for general operating, multiyear, and capacity-building purposes. A median 25% of grant dollars now go to general operating support - up from 20% in 2008 and 2011.

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Making Arts Policy a Priority
by Steve

From the editorial page of The Boston Globe:

Despite the boilerplate campaign rhetoric of “I support the arts!,” when hard times hit, and austerity is called for, arts are the first thing to go. Nowhere is that more evident than in the budget for the Massachusetts Cultural Council — the state agency charged with supporting artists and arts organizations — where the funding dropped by more than half, from $27 million in 1988 to $12 million in 2014. Recently, the dial has begun to move in the other direction. The Legislature opposed further cuts to the council’s budget in 2014 by actually giving it a slight increase. And Governor Deval Patrick tripled the Cultural Facilities Fund — which supports the maintenance and repair of arts venues — from $5 million to $15 million. Meanwhile, it would be nice to get the council’s budget up to at least what it was 10 years ago.
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The Wall: How the Arts Can Improve Aging
by Steve

Aroha Philanthropies prepared this video to advocate for the arts as a means for a more fulfilling and vital aging process.

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How Foundations Can Integrate Racial Equity Lenses Into Their Work
by SuJ'n in Racial Equity

Inside Philanthropy shares a blog post by Doug Stamm, CEO of Meyer Memorial Trust Fund, on his journey from being comfortable with his "socially liberal bona fides" to meaningfully involving himself and the foundation with the struggle for racial equity.

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Work in Detroit Doesn't End with Grand Bargain
by Steve

Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, writing for Detroit Free Press:

This past June, I found myself sitting, awestruck, in the Rivera Court of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The court is named after Rivera for his breathtaking “Detroit Industry” frescoes that line the walls — a gift from Edsel Ford to the people of Detroit back in 1932.
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Private Foundations Show Strong Recovery since the Great Recession
by SuJ'n

Foundation Source released a new report, Trends in Private Foundation Investment, on Friday showing that private foundations have overall experienced a strong recovery (up 48%) in asset balances since 2008. The report also finds that endowment gains differ between mid-sized to large foundations ($10M+) and smaller foundations (less than $1M). Assets of the larger foundations showed strong gains while small foundations' assets remained flat likely due to differing distribution behaviors.

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Keep Financial Statements Simple
by Steve

GuideStar has a new post on its blog from Bo Garner, a CPA on the Not-for-Profit team at PBMares, LLP on the subject of simplifying financial statements. Reading it reminds us of the excellent Web Conference presented back in April of 2011 by Rodney Christopher of Nonprofit Finance Fund.

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