{"id":977,"date":"2024-07-23T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=977"},"modified":"2024-09-09T05:18:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T05:18:15","slug":"last-of-the-summer-whine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/07\/23\/last-of-the-summer-whine\/","title":{"rendered":"Last of the Summer Whine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The seven attributes of a successful nonprofit arts organization. You gotta do all seven to win.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Come on now, I didn\u2019t promise you the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Lower your expectations now. (“temp42” by Izac-Bex on Deviant Art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Before I take off for a month, I thought I\u2019d let you in on the secret to success for nonprofit arts organizations. Note how \u201craising money\u201d is not among the things on the list. That\u2019s a business practice, not an attribute of success. Of course you\u2019ll have to raise money! That holds for any business. It just can\u2019t be the reason for your success, your failure, or your existence. If it is, you might as well talk your people into becoming a commercial organization. There is no moral high ground to being a nonprofit \u2013 but if you\u2019re vacuuming money away from nonprofit arts organizations that are doing their job (using art as a tool to help the people in the community, not as an end product that may or may not deserve acclaim or applause). If yours is an elitist organization whereby donors donate so that donors may attend, you have already chosen to take the low road, and the hillside rocks are crumbling, falling right on top of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But enough of that negativity. And when I return, I\u2019ll have some wonderful news for you. But tut, tut, not until then.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

Intent (or, as some call it, intentionality) is the idea that you want to help the community succeed more than you want to make what some call \u201cexcellent\u201d art. Excellence is subjective (and meaningless) but everyone knows that you\u2019re not out to make \u201cbad\u201d art (also subjective). Intent can be described as \u201cwant-to,\u201d as in the idea that you have to want to help your community succeed innately. It\u2019s not something you can put on artificially. That\u2019s like an ill-fitting speedo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please don\u2019t put on an ill-fitting speedo.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

Okay, you want to help the community. Great. And you run a nonprofit arts organization. Better. You have to provide a service that proves that. And data that it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a successful nonprofit organization of any kind, the act of selfless service to those who have traditionally not been served has to be a key element of the process. So you\u2019re going to have to wave goodbye to those particular toxic donors and leaders who believe that the benefits outweigh the services. It\u2019s considered by most in the field to be an obscenity. We all know it \u2013 it\u2019s transactional. And each transaction kills off several minutes of the life of those on staff who are serving the donor more than serving the needy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

Sympathy is giving a crap when others feel like crap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empathy is feeling like crap when others feel like crap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, while it seems like an obvious necessity (because why would one try to do something for the sake of others if one were not altruistic in some way), too many arts organizational leaders wear blinders big enough to drive Secretariat into a brick wall when it comes to thinking about the less fortunate, at least on an organizational level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, if art, all by itself, is a powerful tool to encourage self-expression, build confidence, and deregulate stress, why aren\u2019t you giving it to those who need it most \u2013 for example, that mom raising three kids without a father, all of whom live in a 2003 Corolla?<\/p>\n\n\n

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

Listening is not \u201chearing.\u201d It is not sitting forward in your chair and staring at the bridge of the nose of the person talking (that\u2019s called, \u201cacting like you\u2019re listening\u201d). Listening is the first part of gaining understanding \u2014 understanding of your community\u2019s needs, your purpose as a charity, and your place in the people\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at your own nonprofit arts organization. What pressing charitable issues in your community are you addressing? If you don\u2019t know, ask someone. And listen \u2014 really listen \u2014 to the response. It may include some resentment for never having thought of addressing them before. And that\u2019s on you, not them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may feel put out by the idea that nonprofit work is actually harder than mounting the latest Off-Broadway hit or the hottest Mahler symphony. That extra weight on your company\u2019s back might lead your leaders to believe that it is not their job to do charitable work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

Having a conscience often means that you do know the difference between charity and commercial ends. In the arts, it likely means that you care more about the people you serve in your community who need the help than you do your board, donors, staff, artists, and yourself. To you, \u201cservice above self\u201d is not a Rotary Club motto, but a way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, with conscience, you also need a goldfish memory and the strength that comes from knowing that what you\u2019re doing is better for everyone. Conscience and guts, the combination that will keep your company on the right track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It’s a goldfish. It has a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish.\u201d \u2014 Ted Lasso<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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

The most successful nonprofit arts organizations in the country are those that have the discipline to navigate their work by the north star of charitable impact. The programs may change as times themselves change; the delivery systems of the art may change with the communities, but the chose to provide impact never changes. It is never set aside, not even for short-term financial gain. In fact, when opportunities arise to expand, it is the communities\u2019 need for expanded activities that guide the operations, not the search for money.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

Intent, service, sympathy, listening, conscience, and discipline. You will find no classes on these subjects at your expensive MFA program in arts administration. Nor should you \u2014 these are innate qualities that must be present for your company to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that few people have the requisite amounts of intent, service, sympathy, listening, conscience, and discipline to make an organization successful. Some have some. Others have others. But if, as a group, you can lean on each other to emphasize those six characteristics so that, as a single nonprofit arts organization working together, all of those things come to pass, you have the best chance to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That requires teamwork, which is not as simple as reading one chapter of a Jim Collins book and deciding to put the right people on the bus. For a nonprofit arts organization to succeed, you require people who inherently have at least half of the key attributes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There, seven attributes. That\u2019s all you need. Very few <\/em>nonprofit arts organizations have it. To judge, start looking at mission statements across the country. If they emphasize the art, they\u2019ve missed the point about being a charitable organization. Look for the core statements \u2013 the subject and predicate of the mission \u2013 and throw out everything else. Does it read as a charity or as a group that has never read the IRS code on the primary activities of a 501(C)(3) organization? Does it talk about the impact of the community or the excellence of its presentations? Does it lean on art being an end product? Or does it value the use of art as a tool to make people better off?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s pretty easy to spot which companies walk the walk and which ones pretend to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Vyacheslav Bobin from Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

See you just after Labor Day. Call or email if you need me. alan@501c3.guru.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a>
Have you bought yours yet? Everyone that contacts me have loved it! You will, too. Just click on the image for yours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Thanks for the coffee. I really appreciate all the folks who have chipped in to make these articles possible. I especially thank those who have, like you, read all the way to the bottom. I’ll be back, but if you’d like to tip me an iced coffee, I’d be extremely grateful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If yours is an elitist organization whereby donors donate so that donors may attend, you have already chosen to take the low road, and the hillside rocks are crumbling, falling right on top of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":978,"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":[21,20,22,100,40,32,29,25,28,23,24,19,18,17,27,99],"tags":[10,47,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-culture","8":"category-board-of-directors","9":"category-board-of-trustees","10":"category-book-recommendation","11":"category-change","12":"category-charity","13":"category-dei","14":"category-development-and-fundraising","15":"category-diversity-equity-inclusion","16":"category-executive-director","17":"category-freedom-of-speech","18":"category-leadership","19":"category-nonprofit","20":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","21":"category-philanthropy-and-donors","22":"category-scene-change","23":"tag-impact","24":"tag-mission-statement","25":"tag-nonprofit-management","26":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/421.jpg?fit=1300%2C867&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1517,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/10\/07\/a-punchy-outspoken-argument-for-how-nonprofit-arts-organizations-should-be-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":977,"position":0},"title":"“A PUNCHY, OUTSPOKEN ARGUMENT FOR HOW NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD BE RUN.”","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"October 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\"An example-driven new map to success in the realm of nonprofit theater.\" \u2014 Kirkus Reviews.","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":"Scene Change, Scene Change 2, and Scene Change 3 - 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What is the definition of \u201ccommunity\u201d to your nonprofit arts organization? 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