Americans for the Arts

In the past decade raising money from low-dollar online donations has nearly tripled and continues to steadily climb among generation Y. In this volatile economic environment it is important to engage and nourish young patrons to give, no matter how big or how small, and plant that seed for a sustainable and prosperous funding future. This series of blog posts will explore a few funding strategies using new media resources and online tools to engage young benefactors and make every penny count.

Following the recent success of the Haiti relief efforts, many organizations are looking to reciprocate these strategies in their own campaigns.  Raising over 20 million dollars, the American Red Cross was able to engage the American people in low-dollar giving using social media channels and a mobile texting campaign.  With the widespread adoption of social media in the private and public sectors, people’s ability to act and support communities in need like Haiti has only been increased.  One of the most effective and successful techniques in promoting your cause or product is to encourage your supporters and constituents to share a link or button to the donation page via website, blog, Facebook or Twitter status updates.  This is a quick and easy way to gain credibility (through re-posts and re-tweets) in your diverse networks while also creating a sense of urgency. 

We've noticed a lot of chatter about finding a new way to talk about what we're passionate about. We all want a value proposition that works to create support for the arts.

We followed the long exchange on the artsjournal pages and noticed that Michael Kaiser put it on his wish list for the holidays. And of course, this conversation is designed to answer the question:  how do we make the case for supporting the arts in 2010? What is the message that works with private sector supporters?

We understand this interest—and we share it. My blogs this week will offer a research-based answer.

One of the themes of the blog posts this week has been about “telling our stories” in ways that resonate with corporate partners for the 21st century.   I want to tell the story of a small town Wisconsin arts organization that to me, defines the story that we should be telling about the arts to our corporate partners and everyone else.  The Northern Lakes Center for the Arts in Amery, population 2,777, located in beautiful northwestern Wisconsin about 65 miles from St. Paul, MN, is one of the most vibrant arts centers in Wisconsin, or anywhere.  The Center is a nationally recognized hub for the arts that truly involves its community in arts experiences on so many levels.

The Northern Lakes Center receives funding from plenty of public and private sources, but it earns income in ways that should serve as a model and inspiration for the future.   The Northern Lakes Center is the publisher for the weekly community paper in Clayton, WI (a smaller town about ten miles from Amery), a service which satisfies Clayton’s need for a community-based newspaper and, which brings in a good chunk of change for the Center each month from advertising and subscriptions. 

The Cultural Alliance is a United Arts Fund and, like everyone else, we struggle to be relevant and meaningful even during good times. In tough times like these, our challenge is greater–it is difficult to stand next to battered women or hungry babies and ask people to give to the arts. While we think it makes sense, it is not always an easy sell.

We did some research and found that during the great depression, the corporate community created the York Symphony Orchestra that still performs to this day. Their thinking, that symphonic music would help York survive terrible times, is a thought we embrace today.

It’s good for business if the community is one where people move to work and live. Businesses who feel they have a cultural or creative community to offer their employees will stay and/or relocate here. But in times when just keeping the doors open is a struggle, where is the value proposition for arts and culture.

The benefits that the arts bring our communities are extensive, but often the value is difficult to appreciate or not readily measurable. It is for this reason, cultural community leaders need to communicate the economic value of the arts and speak in the language of the corporate community by offering research and quantitative facts to compete for funding dollars.

Americans for the Arts is a prolific source of this information which can be used to build a case for arts funding. But, in building that case, one needs a few research tools in their toolbox.

In reading all the great content here over the past few days, I’ve learned a lot. And I’ve had some new thoughts as well, inspired by others. So now, in honor of Broadway’s Hitchcock parody, I’ve come up with my own to-do list – 39 Next Steps, if you will – to build more private sector engagement of the arts here in Portland.