{"id":1056,"date":"2024-10-15T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2024-10-15T16:22:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T16:22:50","slug":"why-do-donors-ask-for-irrelevant-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/10\/15\/why-do-donors-ask-for-irrelevant-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Donors Ask for Irrelevant Data?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Could it be that you never talked to them about your nonprofit\u2019s charitable goals and how they mesh with the donor\u2019s? Whose fault is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Dami\u00e1n Buonamico licensed under CC BY-2.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks ago, I participated in a discussion about the arts and measuring impact in the community. As every other author does, I believed that the message that the arts are not a tax-exempt activity had been spread far and wide among nonprofit leaders. And yet, when I asked the group if any had actually read which purposes are exempt from taxation under Section 501, Subsection (C), Subsection (3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code \u2014 a.k.a. 501(C)(3)<\/a><\/em> \u2014 only a few sets of hands were raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s always surprising to me, even after asking this question at nearly every event and getting the same response among arts leaders, that so few people have even read this very short, simple, and reasonable definition of tax-exempt activities among nonprofit corporations. It is the foundation of the system under which all nonprofits operate. Including arts organizations. I\u2019ve printed the words in these articles numerous times. They appear in each of my two books, Scene Change<\/a>: Why Today\u2019s Nonprofit Arts Organizations Have to Stop Producing Art and Start Producing Impact <\/em>and Scene Change 2<\/a>: The Five Real<\/strong> Responsibilities of Nonprofit Arts Boards <\/em>(available wherever you buy books).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were charged to operate an old-fashioned balloon ride, wouldn\u2019t you want to read up a bit on how the contraption worked?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Or would you just, you know, \u201cwing it?\u201d (Photo by Katie Burandt from Pexels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

If you are a leader \u2014 staff, executive, board member, donor, etc. \u2014 of a nonprofit organization of any kind, <\/em>read the damn IRS code. When you don\u2019t, it shows that you really don\u2019t care about your position as a charity. If you don\u2019t care about your position as a charity, then why are you a charity? For the donations? Is it all about what your artistic leaders <\/em>want to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or do you even give a gluteus maximus of a rattus norvegicus about what your community needs (not what it wants) and how you can use your art to solve issues for the vulnerable citizenry therein?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rattus norvegicus (Photo by Amee Fairbank-Brown on Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Back to the discussion. A smart, savvy development officer asked the group about presenting data to a donor. She wanted to know how others were presenting data such as audience size to donors for projects they helped finance through their donations to the company. Was there a better method than merely counting? The company\u2019s donors were interested in how \u201ctheir project\u201d was going, and how many people paid to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several dozen blank seconds from the group, I trod where angels fear to do so. I challenged the idea that audience counts have anything to do with charitable impact, and that this was probably the reason she was having trouble presenting the data. The data was irrelevant to a charity. As someone wrote on that photo at the top of this article, paid admission is not charitable data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s good data to have if your company continues to pursue its commercial<\/em> goals. But it has nothing to do with the 501(C)(3)<\/em> part of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took some flak for this, as I usually do. After all, if that\u2019s what the donor wants to know, that\u2019s what the donor wants to know, right? In a donor-centric organization, that would be the most important piece of data for that moment in the relationship between donor and company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this were a food bank or shelter for the homeless, the request makes some blunt sense. \u201cHow many did you feed with my money?\u201d \u201cHow many did you temporarily house?\u201d These are metrics that begin to tell the story of the nonprofit\u2019s ability to make the community a better place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u201cHow many people paid to come to my show?\u201d makes little sense. It reveals that the nonprofit arts organization did not discuss the charitable metrics with the donor ahead of time, did not mesh its charitable goals with the donor\u2019s, and, perhaps, doesn\u2019t even have any charitable goals. If that\u2019s what the donor wants to know, the process was made toxic from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When is a charity not a charity? When it refuses to do anything charitable. The production of art, no matter what has been offered in the past, is not a charitable activity.<\/em> Foundations have cut their arts budgets because of that very fact. So have governments. The companies that are succeeding in 2024 are those that choose to help their communities by using their art as a tool for measurable public good. They\u2019re being funded in part by non-arts funders because they\u2019ve proved worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ones that are failing? Those that still hold onto the notion that art is for art\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Suggestion: capture this image, print it, cut it out, and pin it to your artistic director’s wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Talk to your donors and community leaders now. Stop acceding to the wishes of toxic elitists within the nonprofit arts industry by insisting that the work on the stage or in the museum is enough to justify donations. Start with one-on-ones with each member of your board and staff to determine whether they have the stomach to fight for the industry as a whole, or whether they continue to be willing to sacrifice the industry for one last go-round of arts-first codswallop before they retire. Let them moan about how their predecessors were \u201cfree\u201d to do whatever they wished \u2013 this is not then, and they are not them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if donors want to know how many people came, tell them. But don\u2019t leave it at that. Have the courage to let them know that their donation helped X number of underserved people achieve Y equity. Year over year. Over year. Over year. You can have that conversation with them, but only after you have the preliminary<\/em> conversation with them. Now would be the second-best time to have that conversation. (The best time would have been ten years ago.) Then show them what the impact of that impact was; something we call \u201cImpact2<\/sup>.\u201d If you need help, contact me. Or read the book<\/a>. Charitable purpose, impact, and achievement will prove to be life-changing for everyone involved with the arts, but only when a critical mass of nonprofit arts organizations choose the \u201carts-mosphere\u201d over their own unproductive survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could it be that you never talked to them about your nonprofit\u2019s charitable goals and how they mesh with the donor\u2019s? Whose fault is that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1057,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,100,40,32,25,23,19,18,17,27,99],"tags":[85,41,10,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-1056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-culture","8":"category-book-recommendation","9":"category-change","10":"category-charity","11":"category-development-and-fundraising","12":"category-executive-director","13":"category-leadership","14":"category-nonprofit","15":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","16":"category-philanthropy-and-donors","17":"category-scene-change","18":"tag-community","19":"tag-fundraising","20":"tag-impact","21":"tag-nonprofit-management","22":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Paid-admission-is-not-charitable-data.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1125,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/12\/10\/measuring-the-arts-is-impossible-which-is-why-funders-should-measure-charitable-impact-instead\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":0},"title":"Measuring the Arts is Impossible \u2013 Which Is Why Funders Should Measure Charitable Impact Instead","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"December 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine what would happen if donors funded not by grantee promises or relationships, but by their deeds and impact instead.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/see-me.jpg?fit=1000%2C678&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/see-me.jpg?fit=1000%2C678&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/see-me.jpg?fit=1000%2C678&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/see-me.jpg?fit=1000%2C678&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1352,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/07\/25\/advocacy-for-the-nonprofit-arts-sector-is-currently-meaningless\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":1},"title":"SUMMER RERUN: Advocacy for the Nonprofit Arts Sector is Currently Meaningless","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"July 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Lost amid a string of inside-baseball phrases and ideologies, officials have little idea as to why they would possibly fund institutions that serve themselves first. It's easy to make the case for art. For artists. For charity. But for humongous nonprofit arts organizations that still can\u2019t figure out why funding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/mural-by-beastman-spotlight-sydenham-in-christchurch-canterbury1.jpg?fit=1000%2C467&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/mural-by-beastman-spotlight-sydenham-in-christchurch-canterbury1.jpg?fit=1000%2C467&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/mural-by-beastman-spotlight-sydenham-in-christchurch-canterbury1.jpg?fit=1000%2C467&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/mural-by-beastman-spotlight-sydenham-in-christchurch-canterbury1.jpg?fit=1000%2C467&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":679,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/01\/16\/yes-arts-organizations-can-show-charitable-impact\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":2},"title":"Yes, Arts Organizations CAN Show Charitable Impact","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"January 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Other arts organizations manage to act charitably.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Disney-employees1.jpg?fit=872%2C604&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Disney-employees1.jpg?fit=872%2C604&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Disney-employees1.jpg?fit=872%2C604&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Disney-employees1.jpg?fit=872%2C604&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":989,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/07\/01\/this-just-in-a-new-and-unedited-review-for-scene-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":3},"title":"This Just In: A New (and Unedited) Review for \u201cSCENE CHANGE\u201d","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"July 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\"It clearly comes from a place of love for the subversive and utopian possibilities of the arts.\"","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Collective-Ink-Book-Cover.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Collective-Ink-Book-Cover.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Collective-Ink-Book-Cover.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Collective-Ink-Book-Cover.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Collective-Ink-Book-Cover.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1756,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2026\/03\/26\/dog-on-a-cold-stone-floor-or-when-nonprofit-arts-organizations-obsess-about-the-art-more-than-the-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":4},"title":"\u201cDog on a Cold Stone Floor,\u201d or When Nonprofit Arts Organizations Obsess About the Art More Than the People","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"March 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Art is a universal good. No argument. Nonprofit arts organizations are not art, and therefore are not a universal good. No argument there, either.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Dog-on-a-Cold-Stone-Floor.jpg?fit=950%2C634&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Dog-on-a-Cold-Stone-Floor.jpg?fit=950%2C634&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Dog-on-a-Cold-Stone-Floor.jpg?fit=950%2C634&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Dog-on-a-Cold-Stone-Floor.jpg?fit=950%2C634&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1591,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/11\/25\/the-2025-final-never-to-be-repeated-carol-for-nonprofit-arts-organizations\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":5},"title":"The 2025, Final, Never-To-Be-Repeated, Carol for Nonprofit Arts Organizations","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"November 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year about this time, another carol and generally, you don't read it. But this will be the last one ever, so please make it count.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Christmas-Carolers.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Christmas-Carolers.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Christmas-Carolers.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Christmas-Carolers.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1094,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions\/1094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}