Community Foundation

When I mentioned to an arts funder that I was reading a book called Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations she sighed and said we needed to stop using words like strategy. I asked why and she said, "Funders got arts organizations to start using these business words years ago, but nothing has changed. They are not in better shape." The author of the book, James A. Phills, Jr., might suggest the problem was not so much the concept of strategy, but rather a general misunderstanding and misuse of the word itself.

2005, 60 pages. Blueprint Research and Design, 720 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-677-9700, www.blueprintrd.com

Download pdf: www.blueprintrd.com

Can you explain, in simple terms, how you or someone you know is changed by listening to music, watching a dance performance, looking at an artwork, or writing in a journal? I’d be hard pressed to manage a coherent response.

It’s not easy to talk about how art transforms or how we are different because of it. Many who work in the arts, including those of us who do so because of our belief in the transformative power of art, lack a vernacular for communicating its impacts.

2005, 12 pages. Americans for the Arts, 1000 Vermont Northwest, 6th floor, Washington, DC, 20005, 202-371-2830, www.artsusa.org

In response to the surprising migration of leaders from the business world to the nonprofit arts sector, the author interviewed eighty-two individuals who had made such career changes and asked: What motivated them? How are they doing? What are the long-term benefits and challenges resulting from this influx of new leadership?

Under Marian Godfrey's direction, GIA held a pre-conference immediately before its 2005 conference called "New Directions in Cultural Policy Research." As part of that meeting, four well-respected individuals were asked to assess the impact and importance of research in the arts. They were asked to specify the big ideas currently in play and to speculate about the future of those ideas. Predictably perhaps, the four argued for the importance of research to the cultural sector. More surprisingly, they agreed that the platform for cultural research needs serious re-planking.

2005, 48 pages. The Potlatch Fund, 801 Second Avenue, Suite 304, Seattle, WA 98104, 206-624-6076.

Based on a series of talking circles of tribal leaders and funders, this handsome report reviews the history of Native peoples and the role of art in tribal culture, examines the program priorities of funders, and identifies strategies for supporting Native arts and artists. The extensive bibliography is also a valuable tool for grantmakers.

2005, 18 pages. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617-495-1480.

Download pdf: www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/pubs/pub_161.htm

2005, 242 pages. University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH, 03766

2005, 20 pages. The Urban Institute, The Foundation Center, GuideStar.org, Washington, DC, 20037 www.urban.org

PDF available at The Urban Institute

2005, 24 pages. Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, 1413 K Street, NW, 2nd floor, Washington, DC, 20005

Download pdf: Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

This report examines current topics in philanthropic evaluation and showcases innovative approaches to evaluation being used by grantmakers, both large and small. Through three essays and concise, informative case studies, evaluation is shown to be an opportunity to learn about one's grantmaking and to increase its effectiveness.