Building Organizational Capacity
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BUILDING A DONOR BASE

Martha E. Strodel
Director, Rural Arts Program
©July, 2005

Part 1

Times have changed. Money is tight and getting tighter. Standard fundraising procedures used by not-for-profit arts organizations in New York State don't work as well as they used to; the usual resources are giving less or moving on to newer, more exciting funding opportunities. Directors and boards of community-based arts organizations find they have to spend more time and effort raising monies to keep the doors open. The big issue is finding new sources for discretionary monies or general operating support.

Arts councils in particular are under stress. Many have been doing fine and necessary work as cultural leaders, developers and promoters in their regions for years. Their work has been supported by the State & Local Partnership at NYSCA; but as NYSCA support decreases and new organizations compete for limited local dollars, it is getting harder to raise general operating monies. NYSCA is a rare resource in that it does provide general operating support. Other government resources are dwindling; county and municipal funding, and support from tourism agencies and bed tax programs. To thrive, we need to look beyond our usual resource of government, corporate and foundation funding.

Despite the gloomy financial picture, it's still a fact that the highest percentage of nonprofit support nationally comes from individual donors. My sense is that individual donations --- including paid memberships, gifts, annual fund drives --- are an under-tapped resource for community-based arts organizations. For years, we've discussed annual giving campaigns, planned giving and endowments, but how many have been able to follow through on these? What limits us seems to be tied to (again) lack of money, particularly to pay development staff to seek out and nurture individual donors, large gifts, and new funding resources. This is the established route we know in the arts; it's the way large, established arts institutions have survived for years. And how can we compete with these? Particularly in rural areas, large gift potential is limited, whether it be from corporation, foundations or individuals.

I think it starts with a commitment to build or strengthen the individual donor base. It should be part of the fundraising plan, with set goals. Build your relationships with potentially large gift givers, (this takes lots of time) but also consider widening the donor base of modest support. There are other successful models we can look at and adapt to our needs and resources. Consider the cancer and heart drives, or any number of health and socially conscious issues.

"Best Practice" Example for Rural Organizations

Elaine Giguere is the veteran director of Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA), a combined arts center/arts council serving rural Sullivan County and the Pennsylvania side of the Upper Delaware Valley. Elaine is very much a part of her community and has positioned DVAA as THE most vital resource of Narrowsburg, NY. Her commitment to serving her artist community, cultural organizations and general public is legendary, and impressive. She knows every part of her community and county and is involved with anything good that happens there. And, she's been looking for new models to keep DVAA thriving.

This spring, DVAA began an "Arts Alive Drive" focused on raising awareness and new monies. It involved three distinct efforts:
1) a new membership drive where each board member brings in new names and personally writes to encourage joining in support.

2) a local radio station did a one day remote broadcast from DVAA to build interest and support for the "Arts Alive" campaign.

3) working on the premise that everyone in the county can give one dollar in support of the arts, DVAA placed nearly 50 "Arts Alive" donation boxes throughout their region. These boxes were placed in restaurants, retail stores, banks --- even a library and a post office! Each board member scouted out 3 potential locations, got permission to place the donation boxes and collected and reported on results. This effort alone brought in $5,000 in new money.

Elaine and her board are working on other new possibilities, but the "Arts Alive Drive" is clearly focused on raising awareness and building widespread support, and they will refine and expand this campaign as an annual effort. She had a few other comments that are helpful to consider:

* The board needs to rethink its approach to raising monies and look at what works in the community; then adapt.

* People see DVAA with lots of activity and exciting programs, and know they give out grants to artists and organizations --- and assume that DVAA has plenty of money, is doing fine. So it's important to get the message out on the need!

Part 2

The Alliance is fully aware that decreased and disappearing funding resources is the major issue for arts and cultural organizations in New York State. We know this because of our ongoing process of assessing the needs of the field and evaluating our existing programs and services. Having this information has helped us improve existing programs and plan for new approaches and services. The process is ongoing; so far, it has involved work by the Rurals Task Force, a statewide needs assessment survey with outstanding response, and regional forums to discover and discuss regional issues of particular impact. The next steps will be to analyze our findings from the regional meetings and share these with the membership and invited leaders in the field --- then begin to look at possible solutions ---at the "Fast Forward" gathering in September. The process relies on input from and feedback to our constituency, but it also has given us the opportunity to renew old friendships and develop new potential members and supporters.

These days, we all have to compete to become attractive to individual donors or "donor worthy." In order to attract significant individual donations and other new funding resources, we need to fully understand the needs of our communities and respond to them. We have to be clear that what we do is of integral value to our art/artist constituencies and the wider community, and that they know it and will support it. This starts with ASSESSMENT and EVALUATION.

Assessment and evaluation are two steps in an ongoing process of organizational planning. In her "Becoming Donor Worthy" workshop in Ogdensburg in May, Anne Ackerson explored these concepts and procedures. Before we can build new involvement and support, we need a solid vision on not only what we do, but why we do it and whom we serve; our mission statements should confirm and make this vision very clear. We need to get our organizational houses in order; this is done through an ongoing planning process which includes and honest in-house assessment and evaluation by staff and board. What are our programs and services? Whom do they serve and are these recipients supporting the services? How much do they cost, in real money, staff time, and are they worth the cost?

Equally important is the need to involve those we serve, and those we hope to serve (new audiences, supporters) in the assessment and evaluation steps of our planning. This is the concept of a community needs assessment. These questions would look at stakeholder perceptions and priorities of existing services and needs, and help us plan to accommodate new or changing community needs. What present services are most important to you? What could the arts council (center, presenting organization, etc. provide to meet your cultural needs?)

A good resource for the planning process that includes the role of assessment and evaluation is Fundamentals of Local Arts Management, published by Arts Extension Service (AES).

1) It includes what needs to be done and how to do it. Start with the membership; they are obvious stakeholders. But also plan the assessment to make new friends; reach out to other community individuals, groups, and leaders with the same questions. Use surveys, interviews and focus groups.

The community has been invited into the assessment and evaluation steps of the planning process, with the goal of remaining or becoming a vital part of the community. Review and analyze their responses; figure out the realities and feed the gathered information back to all. Then invite them further into your planning process to address the findings.

It's important to market the process. Involve the local media as much as possible to publicize the process and results.

"Marketing is communication; a means of telling the public who you are, what you do and how they can be involved. Marketing:

* attracts donors, volunteers and members

* develops audiences and ticket sales

* promotes events, artists and cultural resources

* advocates policies which support arts and cultural development"

2) It's extra and hard work to involve the community in your planning process, but the rewards can be productive and ongoing. Some benefits of doing this:

?It's a reality check; does the public have the same perception of your worth - and need - as board and staff does? It will also tell you what programs and services are important to continue or refine, and present ideas for future programs. Additionally, it can make a strong case for supporting the vital services/programs.

?It will bring in new attention, interest, audiences, and increase membership.

?It will bring in new friends, potential donors and volunteers who can share your passion for making good things happen in the community. It also can renew and invigorate the interest of established supporters. We all know that "Fundraising is 'Friend Raising'

3) It can give new confidence that what you provide is a vital and integral part of community life and worthy of local support.

The Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations has a 28-year history as New York's primary service association for community based arts and cultural organizations. The Alliance provides leadership and vision, and delivers services, resources and tools that strengthen community cultural organizations. The Alliance monitors, informs and mobilizes the field on statewide and national issues affecting the arts and assists local arts agencies in building community support and developing effective grassroots public policy.

245 Love Lane, P.O. Box 96
Mattituck, NY 11952-0096
Phone (631) 298-1234 / Fax (631) 298-1101