Advancing Evaluation Practices in Philanthropy, a special supplement to the summer 2012 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review was recently released. The special supplement features an introduction by Jane Wales and articles by five Aspen Philanthropy Group authors describing the monitoring and evaluation philosophies of the foundations they lead.
Grantmakers in the Arts
From Chris Jones, Theater critic for the Chicago Tribune:
From Chad Bauman at DC Theatre Scene:
On May 10, the Brookings Institution and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) hosted a symposium examining new growth theory as a tool for assessing the impact of art and culture on the U.S. economy, including the theory that cities play a major role in facilitating economic growth. The symposium featured papers jointly commissioned by the NEA Office of Research and Analysis and Michael Rushton, the co-editor of the Journal of Cultural Economics.
Increasingly, community outreach is just the tip of the iceberg, and artists and social justice organizations are finding mutual benefits to deeper and more prolonged partnerships. That deliberate choice of engagement, as opposed to outreach, seeks to erase some of the traditional hierarchies between dancers and community members.
CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund + Artists' Emergency Resources), a national artists’ service organization, has produced a useful new tool for artists. The Business Insurance Guidebook for Artists distills the key points of business property, liability, and disaster insurance into a pocket-sized booklet.
The booklet responds to information gathered by CERF+ in a national survey of nearly 3,000 craft artists that found that:
President Barak Obama has nominated Maria López De León, executive director at the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), to become a member of the National Council on the Arts. The fourteen-member National Council advises the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, who acts as chair of the council, on agency policy and programs.
In April, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation jointly launched a free online training for program staff at private foundations to help them navigate the rules of advocacy and lobbying. Authored by the legal staff at these foundations, Learn Foundation Law, is a three-part course that take less than hour to complete.