From the blog of Rebecca Thomas, who delivers GIA’s Conversations on Capitalization and Community workshops, a new post provides an overview of risk capital and how it can be used by arts organizations:
Capitalization
Grantmakers in the Arts defines capitalization as “the accumulation of the resources an organization needs to fulfill its mission over time,” specifically regarding financial health. Capital is money saved in order to respond to challenges and opportunities. Capital is different from revenue (which is immediately spent), and from assets like endowments or facilities (which are not available as liquid cash that can pay expenses). It has been the norm for the nonprofit arts sector to be poorly capitalized, an issue which disproportionately affects organizations of color. In response, GIA embarked on the National Capitalization Project (NCP) in 2010. Since its launch, GIA has provided resources, conferences sessions, publications, and workshops on nonprofit capitalization. GIA’s Capitalization and Nonprofit Financial Health Workshops are specialized workshops, held separately for funders and nonprofit grantees, focusing on what each group can do to support the financial health of nonprofit arts and culture organizations. GIA has also updated the workshop to reflect the financial impacts of the pandemic and to reflect a racial equity lens. These workshops are available either in-person or online by contacting workshops@giarts.org.
Two years ago, I had breakfast with a colleague — very nice guy who has helped build the social, or “impact,” investing sector. I shared my ideas about how to connect impact investing with the arts.
To him, investing in the arts meant buying a Picasso or a Van Gogh, collecting art objects. He agreed there was a market for fine art. But impact investing in the arts? He was dead against it.
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by Monica
A new article in Nonprofit Quarterly details changes to the accounting standards for nonprofits as recommended by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The new standards are "meant to help nonprofits to tell their story more transparently through their financials" and will take effect for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017. Key changes include "the simplification of the classification of net assets, the tracking of liquidity, and changes in the presentation of expenses."
by Monica
SMU’s National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) has released its most comprehensive report to date on national fundraising trends in the arts and cultural sector, the latest in the Center’s series of evidence-based insights on the health of the industry. It is based on 2014 data provided by over 4,200 organizations across 11 arts disciplines, with trends for a subset of over 2,700 organizations over the four-year period 2011-2014.
by Monica
Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ) has published a study with the Regional Plan Association (RPA), Leveraging the Power of Cultural Investments: A Report on Cultural Capacity Building. The study evaluates the impact of UMEZ’s cultural investment strategy by providing an in-depth analysis of 32 non-profit grantees over a 13-year period. The report reveals substantial gains for the organizations profiled, as well as their continuing challenges; it illustrates the concurrent growth of Upper Manhattan’s cultural and economic landscape; and it compares Upper Manhattan’s collective cultural assets to similar clusters in New York City’s other boroughs.
January 2016, 19 pages. The James Irvine Foundation, One Bush Street, Suite 800, San Francisco, California, 94104. www.irvine.org.
Read More...In 2008, ten performing arts organizations embarked on an experiment in capitalization. As participants in Nonprofit Finance Fund’s Leading for the Future (LFF) Initiative, the first program to introduce change capital on a national scale, they set out to develop new program models and operating structures that would respond to shifts in the artistic environment and serve as instructive examples to the field.
Read More...The mission of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, established in 2002, is to enhance the quality of life of Oregonians through support of the arts and education. In the midst of the 2009 recession, the foundation began a six-year grantmaking initiative that provided general operating support to Portland’s five large arts organizations. The foundation made important shifts in its grantmaking strategy to help shore up the financial strength and stability of the Portland Opera, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Portland Art Museum, and the Oregon Symphony.
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