Family Foundation

When I applied for a position at the Howard Gilman Foundation in the summer of 2014, there was very little I could do in the way of research or preparation. Online material about the late Howard Gilman was sparse. His foundation appeared to have a website, but upon closer inspection, it was just a single home page, and even that seemed out of date.

I am honored to have this opportunity to interview Gary Steuer, president and CEO of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. Gary is a respected colleague, a member of Grantmakers in the Arts’ board of directors, and co-chair of the GIA Denver Conference Planning Committee for the upcoming annual conference. I am pleased to note that Bonfils-Stanton has been embracing equity in their support of Denver’s nonprofit community, including its arts organizations.

Having worked with panels since my first job in philanthropy at the National Endowment for the Arts, thirty years ago, I am always interested in learning more about how to make the panel system better. Discussions about process, scoring systems, panel adjudication methods, conflict of interest, panel recruitment, multistep review processes, criteria, and more are infinitely fascinating to me and at the heart of improving our own work at the Jerome Foundation.

In early 2016, I became president of the Jerome Foundation, following Cindy Gehrig’s remarkable thirty-seven-year tenure. With so many changes in the world at large as well as in the arts, our board of directors was eager to explore these changes, debate what the future might hold, and engage in self-scrutiny as a prelude to setting a new strategic framework to guide Jerome’s grantmaking during our next chapter.

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   Arts Funding at Twenty-Five (318Kb)

Introduction

The easy convenience of typing a few key words into a search box and promptly being immersed in data can make one forget that this capability has existed for a remarkably short period of time. Just twenty-five years ago — a point in time well within the recollection of most members of the arts and culture sector — Stanley N. Katz, then president of the American Council of Learned Societies, observed, “the serious study of arts philanthropy is less than a generation old, and we are just beginning the sorts of data collection and analysis…we need to make sound judgments about the field.”¹

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.

The arts sector struggles within an environment of scarcity of resources, and yet we know that untapped, unexplored resources exist. We live in an age of a sharing economy, where existing extra rooms, vacation homes, and apartments become the destination for travelers, and car owners provide a vehicle to those in need of transport. This makes so much sense.

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.

In the wake of the worst global economic recession in living memory, the creative industries sector has emerged as a powerful engine for economic growth and social, environmental, and cultural sustainability. With growing concern over the staggering amounts of funding now being directed toward social impact initiatives globally and the effectiveness of those investments, perhaps the time has come for gatekeepers to consider adding the creative industries to the short list of investment-worthy target sectors.