{"id":5705,"date":"2019-10-02T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=5705"},"modified":"2019-08-20T13:25:46","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T17:25:46","slug":"donor-myopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/10\/donor-myopia\/","title":{"rendered":"Donor Myopia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Grass Is Greener?<\/a> I recounted discoveries about arts organizations with adequate or more-than-adequate government funding. They face problems that might surprise those of us working in the arts in the U.S. And more to the point of this post, my colleagues in South America and Australia were envious of the ability we have to tap private money\u2013individuals, corporations, and foundations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that earlier post I promised a consideration of the “down sides” of our private-funding model. The most obvious issue is the lack of dependable support so that every arts organization spends much of its time\u2013as do politicians for similar reasons\u2013pounding the pavement looking for dollars. In an ideal world the resources spent in pursuit of operating funds could be so much better employed in connecting the arts with communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an even bigger problem with our model is how it diverts arts organizations from paying attention to their communities. The history of support that our nonprofit arts infrastructure replicates is the European patronage system. The focus of artists and those presenting the arts was, inevitably, on those who provided the funds to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the beginning of the establishment of arts organizations in the U.S., with virtually no public money flowing in, they have, understandably, been most concerned with the interests of those who fund the enterprise. This narrowness of attention, this “donor myopia” has created a system in which the broader population can be very nearly unseen. We observe this today in the makeup of boards of directors, content (repertoire) selection, and messaging. Our eyes are on the relatively small number of people who have the money to keep operations going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the large- (and medium-) donor business model is breaking down the lack of experience in working with communities is going to be a serious impediment to long-term viability. It is time, actually way past time, to develop “chops” in being part of the fabric of the communities in which we work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some rights reserved<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0National Eye Institute<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the large-donor business model is breaking down the lack of experience in working with communities is going to be a serious impediment to long-term viability. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5710,"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":"Donor Myopia: Focus on large and medium donors has gotten in the way of learning how to connect with communities. That will become an existential problem.","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":[4,5],"tags":[12,13,89,94,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-5705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-overview","8":"category-principles","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-funding","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-structure","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Myopia.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1u1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5646,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/07\/grass-is-greener\/","url_meta":{"origin":5705,"position":0},"title":"Grass Is Greener?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Some weeds in the green grass of government funding for the arts.","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\/2019\/06\/GrassIsGreener.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2755,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/04\/engaged-fundraising-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":5705,"position":1},"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":1449,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/04\/community-philanthropy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5705,"position":2},"title":"Community Philanthropy","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have for a number of years felt like an ambassador serving as liaison between the arts world and the broader not-for-profit world. (This comes from my roles as director of an arts management degree program as well as director of a not-for-profit management degree program.) To some that seems\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arts 2.0"","block_context":{"text":"Arts 2.0","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/arts-2-0\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":899,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/12\/the-pot-is-simmering\/","url_meta":{"origin":5705,"position":3},"title":"The Pot Is Simmering","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Everywhere I turn in my Google Reader, someone is talking about core issues in the arts. (Yes, I know I said I was only going to do one post per week over the Holidays, but come on, how could I resist this?) Certainly the Occupy movement is an explanation, as\u2026","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\/2011\/12\/BoilingWater.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5219,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/02\/engagement-at-the-core\/","url_meta":{"origin":5705,"position":4},"title":"Engagement at the Core","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Early in engagement simply imagine how a commitment to relationship building might affect and improve results in work already being done. In other words, keep it simple.","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\/2018\/01\/EasyButton-300x189.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5431,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/10\/funding-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":5705,"position":5},"title":"Funding Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have to have funding before you can begin community engagement work you are not prepared for it.","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\/03\/Money-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5705","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=5705"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5712,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5705\/revisions\/5712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}