Capitalization

Grantmakers in the Arts defines capitalization as “the accumulation of the resources an organization needs to fulfill its mission over time,” specifically regarding financial health. Capital is money saved in order to respond to challenges and opportunities. Capital is different from revenue (which is immediately spent), and from assets like endowments or facilities (which are not available as liquid cash that can pay expenses). It has been the norm for the nonprofit arts sector to be poorly capitalized, an issue which disproportionately affects organizations of color. In response, GIA embarked on the National Capitalization Project (NCP) in 2010. Since its launch, GIA has provided resources, conferences sessions, publications, and workshops on nonprofit capitalization. GIA’s Capitalization and Nonprofit Financial Health Workshops are specialized workshops, held separately for funders and nonprofit grantees, focusing on what each group can do to support the financial health of nonprofit arts and culture organizations. GIA has also updated the workshop to reflect the financial impacts of the pandemic and to reflect a racial equity lens. These workshops are available either in-person or online by contacting workshops@giarts.org.

June 1, 2011 by Steve

Nonprofit Finance Fund has published a new series on the need for and uses of capital in the arts. The materials convey stories and lessons learned from NFF’s $15 million Leading for the Future Initiative, the first national Initiative to deploy a specific kind of investment – change capital – to help arts organizations adapt their programming, operations and finances to thrive in a changed and changing economic and cultural landscape.

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September 5, 2010 by Steve

The inception of the National Capitalization Project was the release of the Capitalization Literature Review and the National Capitalization summary in 2010.

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November 5, 2014 by Steve

Critical Steps Toward Capital Health in the Cultural Sector (.pdf, 61 Kb) (2014).
A Capitalization tip-sheet authored by Rebecca Thomas, Nonprofit Finance Fund, and Holly Sidford, Helicon Collaborative.

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February 5, 2015 by giarts-ts-admin

February 2015, 31 pages. TDC, 31 Milk Street, Suite 310, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109. (617) 728-9151, www.tdcorp.org.

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December 28, 2014 by giarts-ts-admin

December 2014, 14 pages. Nonprofit Finance Fund, 70 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. (212) 868-6710. http://nonprofitfinancefund.org/

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September 25, 2014 by giarts-ts-admin
The full version of this report is available here

Introduction

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September 16, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

In 2010, Grantmakers in the Arts put capitalization on the national arts agenda by starting a conversation about what funders can do differently to address the chronic financial weakness undermining the vitality of the sector.

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