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arts organizations of color 43 our organization is an institution of color, does that make a difference? Although arts organizations of color are similar to white organizations in most respects, there is one important difference: the sources of contributed revenue. While white organizations typically receive sixty percent or more of their funding from individual donors, arts organizations of color usually rely heavily on institutional gifts, especially from government agencies and foundations. This is problematic for several reasons: there is a limited number of government agencies and foundations that will fund a given arts organization. When the pool of institutional donors is so small, the organization is placed in jeopardy; if any one agency disappears or substantially reduces its gift, the organization is adversely affected in dramatic fashion. And these institutional donors frequently do reduce their gifts. Most foundations do not support an organization indefinitely, and since there are very few professionally managed foundations formed each year, the organization does not have a growing pool of prospects. This places the organization at risk. And both government agencies and foundations are very cyclical in their giving. When the economy is in recession , foundations tend to give less since their investment portfolios are worth less. And government agencies give less since tax revenue declines. Government agencies also reduce funding for political reasons; very few increase their giving substantially. Moreover, these institutional funders typically have a cap on the size of their gifts. So if the number of donors is limited, and the size of the gifts is limited, then the size of the organization is also going to be limited—and arts organizations of color rarely grow very large. What is missing from the fundraising portfolios of most arts organizations of color are individual donations. This is troubling arts organizations of color 109 since arts organizations of color are missing out on the largest funding source. The average arts organization of color gets less than ten percent of its donations from individuals. This disparity results from a lower level of contribution from the home communities of these organizations and from boards that are constituted differently. While the communities served by arts organizations of color are usually very generous and philanthropic, the beneficiaries of their giving tend to be religious, educational, or health-related organizations . While progress has been made over the past decade, there is still a relatively small amount of arts-related philanthropy in these communities . But there would be much more, if more community members were approached. Many arts organizations of color believe they cannot raise money in their home communities, because of their perception that their constituents have other needs and will not give to an arts organization. But that is rarely the case—board members and staff simply have to ask. More problematic is that arts organizations of color often have many community leaders, not-for-profit executives, and politicians on their boards. These individuals can be passionate supporters but are generally not very involved in fundraising for the arts. Just as their white counterparts must evaluate their board members to determine if they are the right people to meet the current needs, so too must arts organizations of color evaluate their boards. Many arts organizations of color serve audiences whose members can afford less for tickets. So these organizations tend to have lower levels of earned income and must rely even more on contributed income than their white counterparts. This makes board restructuring even a greater priority if the organization is going to grow to a stable size. Many arts organizations of color have done a brilliant job of building board strength and supplementing fundraising from institutional gifts with private donations. But this effort must continue in a disciplined fashion so that the organizations can continue to have a healthier, more diversified donor base. ...

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