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Fundraising, sales, education, and engagement. All are concerned with making connections between an arts organization and individuals (and groups) outside the organization. The first two have long been focused most on people who have historically been supportive of arts of the European aristocratic cultural tradition. The latter two have spent somewhat more time dealing with those who have not.<\/p>\n
Fundraising and sales are further related in that 1) they are intended to seek an immediate, direct benefit to the arts organization (donations and ticket revenue), 2) as such, they are almost entirely focused on the organization’s needs and interests, and 3) they have been pursued with little attention to learning much about the funder or purchaser. The exception to that last point, is, of course, major donors; and, as many have argued far better than I, 2) and 3) are incredibly counterproductive. This is especially true now that the pool of people eager to participate in the arts as currently presented has become so small.<\/p>\n
Education and engagement are about the “long game.” They do not usually bear short-term financial results, although that is not always the case. (See Riverside Art Museum<\/a>) They also demand a degree of mutuality that has not characterized arts fundraising and sales in the past. (Again, that needs to change but it’s a different blog post.)<\/p>\n It’s difficult to “educate” without understanding the learner. Good teachers have to know their subject as well as the interests and abilities of their students. It’s impossible to develop a relationship (engage) without a high degree of mutual understanding and benefit. Who wants to be in a one-sided relationship?<\/p>\n Fundraising, sales, education, and engagement are the vehicles through which arts organizations connect with individuals and communities.<\/strong> As we get further into the 21st Century, it is becoming ever more important for our fundraising and sales practices to be more deeply rooted in relationship principles than has been true in the past. And, the relatively newer disciplines of education and engagement could benefit from the rigor and resources<\/em> that have been applied to fundraising and sales.<\/p>\n They are all important to the current and future health of our organizations. Studying them together could prove highly valuable.<\/strong><\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo:\u00a0 Fundraising, sales, education, and engagement are how we “connect.” They are all important to the current and future health of our organizations. Studying them together could prove highly valuable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"External Connections: Fundraising, sales, education, and engagement","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,13,74,45,27,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-5082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-fundraising","12":"tag-marketing","13":"tag-relationships","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ExteriorOutlet.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1jY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5089,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/11\/education-and-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":5082,"position":0},"title":"Education and Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Education seeks to tell\/teach others about the work the arts organization does. Engagement begins with the organization learning about the community with which it attempts to engage.","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Education_Future-e1509029134655.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4631,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/08\/fifth-anniversary-highlights-transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":5082,"position":1},"title":"Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If an organization is not doing anything differently as a result of its engagement efforts, it\u2019s not focused on the community. It\u2019s focused on itself.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4305,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":5082,"position":2},"title":"Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Transformative Engagement\u2013Community engagement (built on community learning) that influences the organization's programming and\/or ways of doing business. Only transformative engagement builds an organization's relevance.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Caterpillar-Butterfyl-e1443036832677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4939,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/development-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":5082,"position":3},"title":"Development Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The perilous effort of attempting to define marketing and fundraising terms.","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Dictionary-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2755,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/04\/engaged-fundraising-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":5082,"position":4},"title":"Engaged Fundraising: I (More Pies)","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There is probably no element of the nonprofit arts management structure that better understands the importance of relationships than the development department. Fundraisers spend their life initiating, fostering, and maintaining relationships with individual donors, corporate sponsors, and foundations. Especially with respect to individual donors, they have great clarity about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Pies-300x163.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4279,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/10\/marketing-and-development-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":5082,"position":5},"title":"Marketing and Development Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Differentiating among development, marketing, sales, and community engagement,","rel":"","context":"In "Customer-Client-Collaborator Series"","block_context":{"text":"Customer-Client-Collaborator Series","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/customer-client-collaborator-series\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dictionary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Dictionary.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5082"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5087,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5082\/revisions\/5087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Attribution\"](\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" "\\"Attribution\\""){kind=icon}
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<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Some rights reserved<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0<\/span>splorp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"