{"id":1082,"date":"2007-10-09T08:22:01","date_gmt":"2007-10-09T15:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2007\/10\/an_unpleasant_argument\/"},"modified":"2007-10-09T08:22:01","modified_gmt":"2007-10-09T15:22:01","slug":"an_unpleasant_argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/an_unpleasant_argument.php","title":{"rendered":"An unpleasant argument"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neill Roan flags a re-emerging public conversation<\/a> about the costs and benefits of charitable giving, particularly to seemingly wealthy nonprofit arts organizations. Says he:<\/p>\n

\n”Shouldn’t charitable gifts go to the less fortunate?”<\/i> is a policy question that those of us in the cultural sector can expect to hear asked more often and more urgently. This question has been around a long time, and as a former fundraiser, I can attest that this question leads to a rocky and perilous conversational landscape.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Roan points to Jenny Price’s essay against philanthropy<\/a> in Good Magazine<\/i>, in which she suggests that giving is often just a redistribution of wealth to repair the damages caused by that wealth generation. In another argument, Stephanie Strom proposed in the New York Times<\/i><\/a> that the tax shelters for wealthy donors come at too high a cost to the public (which the National Council of Foundations called ”just plain silly<\/a>”).<\/p>\n

More recently, there was this little tidbit<\/a> from former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich:<\/p>\n


\nI’m all in favor of supporting the arts and our universities, but let’s face it: These aren’t really charitable contributions. They’re often investments in the lifestyles the wealthy already enjoy and want their children to have, too. They’re also investments in prestige — especially if they result in the family name being engraved on the new wing of an art museum or symphony hall….
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He goes on to suggest a modification to the current tax law:<\/p>\n

If the donation goes to an institution or agency set up to help the poor, the donor gets a full deduction. If the donation goes somewhere else — to an art palace, a university, a symphony or any other nonprofit — the donor gets to deduct only half of the contribution.
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It may currently be a debate about the spending, practices, and tax benefits of the ultra-rich and the mega-nonprofit. But the thoughtful cultural manager will prepare for such conversations to trickle down — to their city council, to their major donors, to their public, and to their local media.<\/p>\n

Why should people give to your organization rather than support the poor, the hungry, or the destitute? And why should your donors get a tax break on their gifts? They are horrible questions to answer, but you’d best have an answer at hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neill Roan flags a re-emerging public conversation about the costs and benefits of charitable giving, particularly to seemingly wealthy nonprofit arts organizations. Says he: ”Shouldn’t charitable gifts go to the less fortunate?” is a policy question that those of us in the cultural sector can expect to hear asked more often and more urgently. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}