Adding up the elements of arts leadership in Los Angeles…

Growing visibility for the California Community Foundation For more than 20 years, California Community Foundation has been an agent for the arts in multiple dimensions across Los Angeles County. This spring, staff realized the time had come to pull the strands of activity together and allow a holistic look at the leadership this organization is [...]

Helping arts donors feel at home…

House concerts raise money and build relationships in Mendocino County. Supporting arts in schools is a hot topic in communities everywhere, especially as economic woes continue to affect school budgets. The Community Foundation of Mendocino County took on this issue in a high-touch way, organizing a series of intimate concerts hosted in the homes of [...]

Small community foundation. Big arts gift.

Placer Community Foundation receives $1 million for arts Two things might be essential for younger or smaller community foundations that seek to attract the attention—and the resources—of major arts donors. One is a visible commitment to arts and culture. The other is the courage to dream big. These are the takeaways from a homegrown arts [...]

Going deeper: New study of thousands of arts donors uncovers values and reasons to give

A study by the East Bay Community Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation chronicles how artists and small- to mid-size arts groups, typically led by artists, found creative ways to involve new donors to support new work. It also uncovers these donors’ motivations to give. Its lessons can help community foundations everywhere advance strategies supporting the success of artists and artist-driven organizations.

Looking for a good number of new donors to the arts? Try 3,120.

Bay Area Fund For Artists Matching Commissions Program (originally posted April 21, 2008, updated December 7, 2010) Community foundations take heart: new arts donors are out there. They may just be waiting to be asked—by the artists themselves! A pilot program launched in 2004 challenged smaller arts nonprofits in and around Oakland to attract individual [...]

When a community foundation leads in the arts, great things can happen…

Oliver Ranch Foundation is a story more than 25 years in the making, and one with an unlimited future—thanks to the community spirit of a truly visionary couple, and the distinctive capabilities of Community Foundation Sonoma County.

The “ripple effect”: Building shared responsibility for the arts

Guest post by Margy Waller, Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund Many of us have spent years searching for the strongest possible message and the best case on which to build support for the arts. Yet, the messages we have used to create dialogue in communities across the country have not yielded the broad sense of shared [...]

If you can raise money for the arts in hard times, you can do it any time…

Five ways CAA-funded community foundations grew arts funds in the worst year since the Depression Most nonprofit fundraisers are glad to see the calendar turn to 2010—personal donations in 2009 declined while social needs skyrocketed. During this tumultuous time, the arts giving landscape might have been bleak, but it was far from barren.

Just ask! Here’s how community foundations can grow arts donor relationships through effective interviewing…

Probing questions, proven techniques, and a simple process What makes arts donors tick? How can we connect with these givers? These questions are top of mind for all who aim to increase donor support for community arts. Recently, a group of California community foundations turned to research guru Alan Brown to help deepen their understanding [...]

Powerful message + Memorable event = New momentum

An Evening of Song & Poetry Community Foundation Sonoma County What can a community do when economic recession threatens local arts organizations and makes donors cautious about their giving? In Sonoma County, these scary circumstances led to a strategy for showcasing local arts—while helping donors reconnect to their passion for creativity in community.