{"id":955,"date":"2006-09-28T09:08:10","date_gmt":"2006-09-28T16:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2006\/09\/painting_with_a_broader_corpor\/"},"modified":"2006-09-28T09:08:10","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T16:08:10","slug":"painting_with_a_broader_corpor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/painting_with_a_broader_corpor.php","title":{"rendered":"Painting with a broader corporate palette"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s increasing evidence that the mission-driven world has focused a bit too obsessively (or myopically) on a single organizational form: the tax-exempt, 501(c)3<\/a> nonprofit corporation. It was a logical place to go, after all — if your goals are not defined by profit but by other motives, you should structure yourself as a nonprofit…right?<\/p>\n

Problem is, the nonprofit corporation is an unusual beast to govern, to manage, to finance, and to connect with a dynamic environment. And the strings that come with that tax-exempt status can actually keep an organization from doing its best and most effective work in the world. Since it’s rather difficult to create new<\/i> legal corporate forms (which are complex bundles of federal tax law, state corporate statutes, and evolving litigation), the smart folks are left to mix and mingle different forms toward a single purpose. Hence, the hybrid organizations that seem to be popping up everywhere these days.<\/p>\n

A particularly creative case in point is Google.org<\/a>, the charitable arm of the world-dominating Google<\/a>. Like its corporate parent, Google.org has big<\/i> ideas for changing the world in a positive way — attacking climate crisis, global public heath, and global poverty.<\/p>\n

The issues are so big (and the money is too, about $1.15 billion) — that the organization didn’t want to be limited by tax-exempt status. Instead, as described by its honcho Larry Brilliant in this Wired<\/i> interview<\/a>, the initiative uses many<\/i> organizational forms to advance its work. Says Brilliant:<\/p>\n


\nWe are not really a foundation. It’s a bit of a 501(c)3, a bit of a C corp, and a bit of an academic environment. I can play more of the keys on the keyboard. A 501(c)3 can’t lobby. A 501(c)3 can’t invest in a company or build an industry. It may be that the only way to deal with climate change is to create an industry or build companies.
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While not as large in scale, there are many examples in arts and culture of hybrid organizations. I’ll touch on some soon.<\/p>\n

\nAs an aside, have you ever looked for the words “arts” or “culture” in the U.S. tax code? Take a look at the actual definition of a 501(c)3 under Title 26, Subtitle A, Chapter 1, Subchapter F, Part I, Section 501, Subsection (c), Paragraph 3<\/a>. Amateur sports are in there, as well as children and animals, but no arts and culture. Hmmm.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s increasing evidence that the mission-driven world has focused a bit too obsessively (or myopically) on a single organizational form: the tax-exempt, 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. It was a logical place to go, after all — if your goals are not defined by profit but by other motives, you should structure yourself as a nonprofit…right? Problem […]<\/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-955","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\/955","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=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}