Along the Capitalization Spectrum

Monday, October 19, 10:00am – 11:30am

Organized by Katie Steger, Senior Program Associate, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Presented by Susan Feder, Program Officer, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Regina R. Smith, Interim Managing Director, Arts and Culture, The Kresge Foundation; and Katie Steger, Senior Program Associate, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This session will examine the spectrum of capitalization activities that can be undertaken in order to more fully and equitably support organizational financial health. Speakers from the Kresge and Mellon foundations will discuss lessons learned from recent years of capitalization-focused grantmaking and new directions based on that learning. Kresge will outline the findings from an assessment conducted by the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) of the grants made under its capitalization initiative (including facility and building reserve investments and balance sheet investments in support of business model shifts), and how capitalization informs their current strategy. Mellon will share lessons from the first five years of its zero-interest loan program administered by NFF and other business planning and working capital investments. It will also discuss the pilot for a multiyear comprehensive financial health initiative, also administered by NFF to a cohort of art conservation organizations and a group of National Performance Network partners.