Family Foundation

Currently they hold almost $70 million in assets. With some luck and hard work, they hope in ten years to increase that amount ten-fold to over $750 million. They can be found east and west, north and south. They are modest and ambitious. They are large and they are small. And, most importantly, they are changing and challenging the very nature of public funding of the arts nationwide.

As arts funders, we often perceive our capacity to direct financial resources to worthy arts organizations as the most valuable tool at our disposal. That's probably correct and, indeed, as it should be. After all, most of our institutions have been established by donors for the core purpose of grantmaking, and the law mandates that we award grants for public benefit.

The past year has brought forward several thoughtful investigations into the future of nonprofit leadership. Among other commentaries, Investing in Leadership by Betsy Hubbard (Volume 1) and Kathleen P. Enright (Volume 2) — published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations — and Daring to Lead, 2006, by Jeanne Bell, Richard Moyers, and Timothy Wolfred — published by CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation — are thoughtful and meaty.

This article is dedicated by the author to the memory of Mois Cruz Sánchez. Moisés, like Filemon, was a native of San Juan Mixtepec in La Mixteca in Oaxaca. He was a migrant farmworker. His dream was that Mixteco citizens in his village elect one of their own to the village governing body, independent of the local caciques [political bosses]. He fulfilled that dream and was elected mayor of his village four years ago. He also worked for the transnational organizing of the Mixteco people and founded an organization for that work.

In October 2005, the Canada Council for the Arts published preliminary findings in a study, "Comparisons of Arts Funding in Selected Countries." This research on the part of the Council is intended to "support the case that additional arts funding is needed in Canada in order for Canadian arts organizations and artists to thrive and to function on the same level as their peers in other countries." Its findings are available on the Canada Council's web site.

Donors' Guide to Gulf Coast Relief & Recovery
2006, 71 pages. New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, 79 Fifth Avenue, Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10003-3076, 212-714-0699

PDF available for download at the organization's website.

Giving in the Aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes
2006, 29 pages. Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 800-424-9836

PDF available for download at the organization's website.

2006. International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies , 372 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills Sydney, PO Box 788, Strawberry Hills 2012 NSW, Australia, info@ifacca.org

2006, 277 pages. Routledge, 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Operating outside governments and markets, able to take risks and accept failure, free to cross sectors and redefine professional boundaries

2006, available online. Center for Arts Policy, Columbia College Chicago, 600 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60605, 312-344-7985

What do Cirque du Soliel and acid mine drainage have in common? And how do they relate to arts and democracy? You can explore these questions and learn about many other surprising combinations in this mind-expanding new "cyber series" now being distributed free of charge by the Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College Chicago.

2006, 27 pages. Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, 2324 University Avenue West, Suite 114, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55114, 651-645-0402, www.mrac.org

Download pdf at The Bush Foundation website

"Harmony is not an arts destination. We seek the arts at the core of everyday lives. We simply want a more solid community, a well-rounded community, beauty in our lives." — Paula Michel, Harmony Arts Council