In the 21st century, wealth is beginning to concentrate in new fields like technology as opposed to traditional industries. With this in mind, how can arts organizations go about soliciting financial support from this new class of wealthy-elite? This white paper by Jennifer Moreci answers this question by looking at current patterns in philanthropy and specific strategies for engaging donors in Silicon Valley. Read the full report here.
How Socially Responsible Spending is Replacing Traditional Philanthropy
You would be hard pressed to find any person who has visited a grocery store or movie theater that has not been asked to donate an additional dollar for charity on top of their purchase. It’s become a widely accepted, near expected, practice in contemporary consumer culture. Capitalizing on existing buyer behavior is not just easy- it’s smart. However, the model has advanced far beyond adding a few dollars onto a popcorn purchase at the cinema. It has emerged as a way for organizations to capture financially strapped young donors, and generate creative revenue streams as traditional philanthropic avenues face increased competition.
The Giving Pledge: A Start to Engage Tech Philanthropy
To understand why arts organizations have struggled to capture funds from tech billionaires, arts managers and development professionals would do well to recognize what philanthropic sectors they are losing these dollars to, and why. Armed with these insights, arts professionals can then adjust their strategies to better appeal to this new and growing donor segment.
STEAM Learning at the Carnegie Science Center
Moving the conversation around public education from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) has long beleaguered arts managers and arts educators alike. Defending the argument for arts programming and arts education can be difficult in the face of shrinking school budgets and a highly competitive grant environment. Particularly in a country that increasingly favors the hard sciences above the humanities, cultural pursuits, and artistic studies. Despite gains at the federal level with the new core arts standards, the STEAM caucus, and the first budget increase for the National Endowment for the Arts in years, it is still easy to feel defeated. The question remains, what can arts leaders and community organizers do at the local level to push the conversation in a positive direction?
Silicon Struggle: The Battle for The Bay Area Arts' Scene
If you told the average San Francisco resident 40 years ago that the art scene in the Bay Area would be gasping for life in 2015, they probably would have laughed in your face. But it is 2015, and that is the reality we are facing. The tech giants have moved in, and tension is building between the Silicon Valley community and its non-profit entities. In particular, arts organizations seem to be at an extreme disadvantage for a few reasons:
Tableau: The High Cost / High Reward of Data Visualization
With more than 23,000 customer accounts, Tableau has established itself as a powerhouse of data visualization experts. Clients include aerospace companies such as SpaceX, healthcare institutes like John Hopkins Hospital, and even financial sector customers such as Goldman Sachs. But what does Tableau- a rather expensive budget line item- do for its non-profit customers like the Red Cross? What does data visualization even mean for non-profit groups, let alone arts organizations?
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