The beginning of a series offering ideas that might disturb, comfort, or provoke nonprofit arts organizations into community action. Read it anyway. Toss the ideas around.
There’s an old handbook still being published by BoardSource, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards. You might already have a copy of either the original (2009) or any of its revisions. It’s not a bad book at all. The kinds of responsibilities are what no one would call illegitimate or wrong. In fact, there’s far more right about the book than wrong. It’s pretty good.
In fact, the title, which isn’t The Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, indicates that the author, Richard Ingram, understands the malleability of your plight as a nonprofit. Your own individual nonprofit may require more than ten responsibilities. Or, your nonprofit may require ten, but not these ten. It leaves the options open.
The Dead Sea Scrolls showed that the translation of the first three words of the Torah/Bible are more likely “In a beginning,” and not “In the beginning,” which might change the whole idea of a single beginning in Eden (which would solve the “Who’s the mother of Eve’s grandchildren?” problem). In the same way, “Ten Responsibilities” is far different from “The Ten Responsibilities,” which connotes a finite set.
(I prefer to think of “In a beginning” as synonymous to “Once upon a time.”)
Back to the board responsibilities, however, the book is thin on specific responsibilities for nonprofit arts organizations’ boards of directors. In arts organizations, board members are too often major donors with major designs on powerfully pushing the framework of the organization to fit their wishes. And, too often, because there is no real mission to the nonprofit (except to do “art for art’s sake,” the original meaning of which had to do with doing art not for the sake of the state, religious leaders, or other power brokers).
The lack of a real, tangible mission that aims to eliminate a social issue (or at least mitigate it) can lead to parallel universes within the organization. One universe, made up of the board members, wants to connect with the artistry of the company, but as a “power user,” a special category of One-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. Their dreams and ambitions for the company may or may not improve the company’s work, but will certainly enhance the board member’s value. Without a mission as a rudder, these self-anointed ones might steer the company into vocabulary waters they know from their own experiences. As a result, you often hear board members grumble about how “this company should run more like a business,” a phrase that is indefensible in its outrageous combination of arrogance and ignorance.
The other universe, made up of the staff and artists (often interchangeable), wants to connect with the community and sees the board members as conduits to that end. But, again, too often, they act like lazy realtors, showing the joys and excitement of the art and none of the mouse holes in the floorboards of the organization. But they’ll do their little show at each board meeting so that the board members feel more connected to the art (art as reason for existence, not as tool for community betterment).
Honestly, if your company takes even 5 minutes of precious board meeting time to see art in action (either by performance or exhibition), you have two parallel universes. It might be a good time to start over with, say, a mission; and not a self-facing one such as “We do excellent art so you should support us.”
You can find dozens of books about how to create a mission. Read all of them. Read some of them. Read none of them. Honestly, this is all you have to do:
Responsibility #1: Determine why the company needs to exist
The barrier to entry for arts organizations is lower than low. Anyone can produce some sort of art, anytime, anywhere. If a troupe of actors shows up on your venue’s sidewalk performing Shakespeare, you have competition. The need to exist, then, cannot be tied into the art your company produces (Note: it doesn’t create art; it produces it. There’s a difference.)
Your community, however, has provided you with a barrier to entry that would be daunting to anyone trying to compete with you: a need. The need is not a simple lack of art in your community. There is no lack of art in your community. A white Styrofoam cup. A book cover. The phone, laptop, or computer on which you are reading this right now. All are artful things. All have been designed. The artistry of design attracted you to them. Art is essential. Like air, art is everywhere, whether you like it or not. That’s the basic definition of the word “essential.”
Solving or mitigating your community’s need is not essential. After all, billions of people don’t help billions of people every day. But as a nonprofit, a charity whose purpose is to measurably provide a positive impact on your particular community, your duty is to solve or mitigate, not to produce and entertain. Don’t get me wrong: the art you produce can be entertaining. But only when you can use art to solve and mitigate will you have achieved your nonprofit’s objective.
So, your first order of business is to use your resources to ask, interview, and otherwise seek out which need your community needs to solve. Whether it’s civil rights, homelessness, or potholes (hint: it’s not potholes), the solving thereof is your company’s mission. After that, create measurable ways to show how your art executes that mission. Your mission statement should reflect the need, not the art. For you, art is an unusual and efficient tool to do what? To change what? To solve what? In a truly impactful mission, you would never need to mention that you use art as a tool. The solution is enough.
Based in Kirkland, Washington, Alan Harrison is a writer and speaker specializing in nonprofit organizations, strategy, the arts, and life politics. His columns appear regularly in major publications. Contact him directly at alan@501c3.guru.
If you’re feeling generous or inspired, just click on the coffee cup above. You don’t have to, of course, but if you can afford it and find some value here, please provide the desperate need for caffeine.
Alan is always looking for good opportunities to write and consult for nonprofits that need a hand. And, of course, that elusive Perfect Opportunity™.
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