Sustainability starts with revenue… and a simple first step

Assessing Fund Development Capacity in Monterey
All local arts organizations seek financial sustainability. Getting there, however, can be a challenge—even for the most established nonprofits. Community foundations are working to help, and in Monterey County the process begins with a simple but strategic self-assessment tool.

Voicing culture and community through art

Mi Vida/Mi Pueblo, Greenfield, Calif.
Every work of art tells a story. In Monterey County, stories of life told through art are fueling the emotional well-being, cultural pride, and civic engagement of local groups. It’s happening through Mi Vida/Mi Pueblo (My Life/My Town).
A series of art workshops in and around the agricultural community of Greenfield brought [...]

Looking into the future of art

Sonoma County
Emerging Artist Awards 2008
It’s one program with two benefits. The Sonoma County Artist Awards boost the reputations of working artists early in their careers, and raise public awareness of local arts. The awards are a collaboration of the arts community, with leadership from the county’s Arts Council and Community Foundation.

Irvine grants boost California arts scene

Communities Advancing the Arts, Phase 2
Invest in what works. So goes the saying—as well as The James Irvine Foundation’s interest in advancing community arts. Irvine announced nearly $3.2 million in new grants to a group of California community foundations. It’s the second phase of Communities Advancing the Arts, an initiative that placed $4.75 million in [...]

801 new arts donors

East Bay Matching Commissions Program
Community foundations take heart: new donors are out there! They may just be waiting to be asked. A pilot program challenged arts nonprofits in and around Oakland to attract individual donors. And it worked, bringing in more than 800 new givers. The idea came from the East Bay Community Foundation, and [...]

Mixing, matching artists and donors has rewards

Sonoma County Emerging Artists Fund
Raising permanent funds for arts and helping local artists launch careers are two challenges faced by many communities. Both led to one solution in Sonoma County: an Emerging Artists Fund. It connects the power of endowment giving to the value of providing early support to artists. And it has real [...]

True story: Arts change life at community foundation

Orange County Community Foundation
“I am raising my son differently because of our work in the arts.” Shelley Hoss, President of the Orange County Community Foundation, is taking her organization’s newfound role in the arts personally. The story begins in the mid-1990s, when Shelley’s team recognized that arts represented “a gap in both our knowledge base [...]

Arts, the democratic ideal, and community leadership

Community Foundation Sonoma County
“The arts are common ground for community, a meeting ground,” says Melissa Kester, Arts Development Officer for Community Foundation Sonoma County. “It’s about expressing different points of view, understanding things in new ways, and coming together around shared experiences.” This insight opens a window for viewing the foundation’s partnership with its local [...]

Growing donors at the grassroots

Bay Area Fundraising Tool for Small Arts Nonprofits
Sometimes the first step is the hardest. Recognizing that small, community-based arts organizations often need help starting their own fundraising, two Bay Area community foundations took action. The tool they created helps these nonprofits follow a simple blueprint to build a base of donors. It’s part of the [...]