Huffinton Post, April 26, 2010

What do you think about this comment from Michael Kaiser??

I have said it before and I will continue to say it: the biggest problem we face in the arts is a lack of trained arts managers and board members. One can trace the demise of virtually every bankrupt arts organization to a lack of competent staff and/or board leadership. There are many, well-managed arts organizations that are surviving this recession. It is not easy for any arts manager, but those with knowledge and skill are seeing their organizations through this most challenging environment.

Fund Raising: Casual or Serious

Adrian Sargeant’s article in the April 8, 2010 Chronicle of Philanthropy entitled “Making Fund Raising a Real Profession: Next Steps” is underscoring his thought that Fund Raising is, in fact, a profession. He is challenging the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP) to upgrade their credential, CFRE or Certified Fund-Raising Executive. You may recall that Irving Warner has been calling for a more rigorous certification of fund raisers for years.

What does all this mean for arts administrators working to develop financial resources for their respective organizations? How serious are we about our efforts in the area of fund raising and philanthropy knowing that possibly over one half of our budget must come from contributions? Do those of us in arts administration recognize fund raising/philanthropy as an area requiring serious, professional attention? Have our arts management training programs treated this area in the proper balance with other skills and knowledge we need to be successful?

How does it look from your current perspective?

Balancing Earned and Unearned Revenue

Recently, I have had encounters with individuals, projects and organizations involved with the arts where the subject was fund raising. I became aware that there were many divergent views of development (fund raising) ranging from non-existent to “a necessary evil” to an “afterthought”.

None of these encounters seemed to reveal an acceptance that in most arts organizations contributed revenue represents almost one-half of the operating budget.

I visited the IRS 990 Filings of a number of arts organizations to discover the ratio of contributed revenue to earned revenue. I checked two main revenue categories on the forms of a sample of arts organizations:

Contributions, gifts and grants --------Program service revenue
Dance Company------------43%---------------------31%
Community Theater--------52%---------------------47%
Symphony Orchestra-------41%---------------------52%
Ballet Company-----------34%---------------------60%
Performing Arts Center---38%---------------------56%

(Percentages don’t add to 100% because there are other sources of income. It was interesting to note that only one of these arts organizations showed a net profit from Special events and activities.)

What do you see as the relative focus on development in your arts organization?

What do you observe in other arts organizations you come across?

Does the administrative focus on development match the need of the organization?

Are there arts administrators properly trained to manage this balance between earned and unearned revenue in the budget?