Grantmakers in the Arts

(11-17-10) The draft discussion proposal released November 10, 2010 by the National Commission for Fiscal Responsibility and Reform co-chairs, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, provides a number of options to reform our nation's budget and revenue system, identifying many of the tough choices ahead in efforts to restore fiscal stability. Bowles and Simpson emphasized that the draft proposal reflects only their views and is intended to generate substantive discussion among panel members.

(11-17-10) Independent Sector (www.independentsector.org) is now accepting nominations for the 2011 John W. Gardner Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual whose leadership in or with the nonprofit and philanthropic community has been transformative and who has mobilized and unified people, institutions, or causes that improve lives. The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2011.

(11-17-10) Beyond the Recycling Bin: Greening Practices of Grantmakers, a new report by the Grants Managers Network attempts to answer that question by exploring the greening practices are currently in use by grantmaking organizations, the variables affecting the number and type of practices implemented by grantmakers, and their perceived barriers to greening. The report is based on a survey of the practices of nearly 300 grantmakers.

(11-14-10) Former GIA member Diane Ragsdale (Mellon Foundation) just launched a new blog on ArtsJournal called Jumper - Diane Ragsdale on What the Arts Do and Why.

(11-12-10) On November 10, Civic Ventures announced the ten recipients of its Purpose Prize, a prize designed to encourage and award charitable work by individuals over age 60. This year’s group was selected from 1,400 nominations by a panel of 27 judges, chaired by Sherry Lansing, the former movie-studio head who now runs her own foundation. Five recipients received $100,000 prizes and five received $50,000 prizes.

(11-11-10) The latest installment of Hildy Gottlieb's Making Change podcast is an interview with Margaret Martin, the founder of Harmony Project, a program that targets at-risk youth in Los Angeles for positive youth/community development through ongoing, year-round music lessons and ensemble participation. The upshot: "visionary community leadership of the future will come from encouraging creative thinking in young people today."

Listen here.

(11-10-10) Michael Boehm on Culture Monster:

“Let me tell you about the very rich,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in 1926. “They are different from you and me.”

The facts support him still, judging by a study of rich folks’ charitable habits released Tuesday. One of the things that most differentiates them from the rest of us, it reveals, is that they give to the arts.

(11-8-2010) At the GIA annual conference in Chicago, we rolled out the work we’ve done so far on capitalization. Capitalization is defined as financial, human and physical resources that lead to the fulfillment of an organization’s mission. This has been a yearlong journey that started initially as a discussion between national foundations. It quickly became evident that Grantmakers in the Arts had a responsibility to share the research, literature review and thoughtful conversations about the financial stability of the nonprofit arts sector.