Grantmakers in the Arts

(5-18-10) The Cincinnati Museum Center is suing A Good Neighbor Foundation over a dispute that amounts to a he-said-she-said of good nonprofit-granting protocol. The Center alleges receipt of both verbal and written gift confirmations, while the Foundation argues that the funds in question—a $1 million grant to restore the dining room of Union Terminal, the historic building that is home to the Museum Center—were not subject to the requisite application and board approval process and are therefore not committed.

(5-17-10) Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his proposed 2011 fiscal year budget on May 6, and on May 14, Robin Pogrebin reported in The New York Times that "arts institutions insist they will be ruined by the cuts to their allocations."

(5-12-10) Still around, and still making people nervous.

(5-12-10) The San Francisco Foundation has announced that Moy Eng is joining the Foundation as the interim program officer for Arts and Culture. Moy has a national and local reputation for her leadership in arts and culture. She served previously as director of the performing arts program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

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(5-12-10) From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Most of the last year’s business headlines have featured financial bailouts, ethical lapses, Ponzi schemes, executive bonuses and a general erosion of confidence in corporate America. Yet at the same time, corporations have shown extraordinary innovation in how they are leveraging their unique assets to generate positive change in communities...

(5-11-10) So they don’t call Tennessee the “Volunteer State” for nothing! Although the national media has already moved on to the latest stock market twist and political scandal, the artists and arts organizations of Tennessee are recuperating, rebuilding and performing. The Nashville Symphony, although their hall is damaged, has designed a “traveling” season and has already performed. But there is much work to do, artists to help and organizations that will need support rebuilding.

(5-11-10) The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund has announced ten gifts, ranging in size from $12,500 to $75,000, to Atlanta area arts troupes and organizations. The gifts are part of a three-year, $3 million initiative to help small and midsized nonprofits weather the recession. Howard Pousner, writing for The Atlanta Journal Constitution explains: "The Atlanta Arts Recovery initiative can also be seen as one response to the gap in relatively weak public arts funding in Georgia and Atlanta.

(5-5-10) In "Philanthropy, Evaluation, Accountability, and Social Change," from the latest issue of The Foundation Review, John Bare, Vice President for the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, argues that many foundations have substituted process accountability for accountability for contributing to social change. Accountability in terms of required reporting is important, but it sets a floor, not an aspirational ceiling.