“But we aren’t feeding people.”  “We aren’t working on the cure for cancer.”  “How can we ask people to make leadership gifts to the arts, when there are so many basic needs out there?” “How can we measure the return on investment?”

So just what is the case for the arts?

I have been dealing with this issue my entire professional career. And for me, it’s so crystal clear, it’s hard to believe that others don’t understand as well. The problem is, I just cannot explain it.

Here is some of what I mean:

I am a very visual person. Words are one way to communicate, touch is another, but when I hear a great piece of music, or see a masterwork, sometimes, I just can’t speak for a while. I feel that the insides of me are repositioning and my soul is growing in a different way.

When I was in college, I went to New York with a study group and went to see Peter Shaffer’s play, “Equus.” It forced me to face so many fears and joys in my life, I could not speak for about an hour after the play was over. My soul was feeling new things and my heart was connecting to others in a little bit of a different way.

I remember after 9/11, I went to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, which was a client at the time, and spent some time in their Islamic galleries. What could the art tell me from a culture I didn’t know much about? How could I connect with people unless I could sense who they were? I didn’t know what to do, except ask the art.

When we support the arts, we are not feeding the hungry, finding a cure for a cancer, or building a homeless shelter. But what we are doing is every bit as critical to our life together as people. We express the meaning of life, the joy of being alive, the pain of suffering…

All can be better understood through art.

Sure, we know the facts around it – the arts are good economic development, and teach creativity and critical thinking, etc.  But I think that misses the point.

Karl Paulnack, pianist and Dean of the School of Music at Ithaca College, has said he thinks that the ancient Greeks understood music as a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls, and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. He asks his students to not only master music, but to save the planet:

“If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don’t expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do.”

Now, that is a case I can support!

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By Sandra Kidd,
Partner

 

Last year, the world of art and artists lost a friend when Herbert Vogel , noted collector of minimal and conceptual art, died at age 89 in New York City. For half a decade, Herbert Vogel and his wife Dorothy-or “Dorothy and Herb” as they liked to be known-steadily acquired a collection of work that grew alongside the careers of the artists they followed, befriended and collected.

Living in a modest one-bedroom apartment and bringing their works home on the subway, the Vogels built their collection of 5,000 pieces on the civil service salary of a postman (Herbert) and a librarian (Dorothy). Then, starting in 1992, they started giving it all away.

The National Gallery of Art was the first recipient of a major gift from the Vogels’ collection, but they also wanted to ensure that these artists’ work were accessible across America. From this desire was born theFifty Works for Fifty States project in 2008, through which the couple gifted 50 works of art to each of the fifty states, with one stipulation: that the works be exhibited to each museum’s visitors within five years.

At the beginning of 2012, the couple turned their focus once again to Alexander Haas client the Columbia Museum of Art, gifting nearly 600 additional works to the CMA, the South Carolina representative in theFifty Works for Fifty States project. Previously, they also had made a second major gift to the National Gallery of Art. The Gallery now owns 1,100 works gifted by the Vogels, the CMA owns 650, and another 2,900 are in museum collections across the county, from the Portland Art Museum in Oregon to the Portland Museum of Art in Maine.

Herbert Vogel, who retired in 1980, never made more than $23,000 on his postal service salary. The couple devoted Herb’s paycheck to buying art. They could have enriched themselves by selling off their collection, which contained works by well-known names such as Chuck Close and Sol LeWitt, but instead they chose to share what they loved with future generations of museum-goers.

Through our work with museums large and small, we at Alexander Haas are fortunate to be able to meet some of the Vogels of the world: patrons whose passion for collecting gives wing to the spirit of philanthropy. As we celebrate the remarkable life of Herbert Vogel, we hope that you have your own “Dorothy and Herb” in your museum family-or in your future!

But most importantly-regardless of the size of your organization-cultivate people with the capacity to impact your museum. Cultivate people who will make gifts to advance your museum and support your mission. Cultivation, solicitation and stewardship cannot be replaced nor shortcuts taken…or the donor will create their own vision and fund it.

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By Jim Hackney,
Managing Partner

 

As fundraising consultants, we are energized when our work with one organization offers insight into our work with other organizations. As I write this, I am days away from traveling to Greece where I will be an Arts Envoy for the U.S. State Department. I am honored to be a keynote speaker in a workshop designed for the Greek museum professional community. With the Greek economy in such turmoil, the Government-supported museums and cultural sites are not receiving the level of public funding they would historically. This workshop is meant to invigorate those organizations and show them how to raise private donations-something they are not accustomed to doing.

Preparing for two different presentations, and nearly a week of on-site consulting with several Greek organizations has forced me to go back to the very basics of how to start a philanthropic program. Going back to the basics literally takes us back to Greece where the tenants of Western Civilization were born. And the basic tenant of philanthropy is private support. However, there is not a tremendous amount of private support for Greece’s museums. So, we start at the beginning. How do you ask someone for a gift? What compels someone to make his or her first charitable donation?

Looking back at how the United States developed this system of private support brings me to my initial declaration that working with one organization can often offer great insight when working with another. While working with the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I was reminded once again how we are given the right to join together and do something for the public good. This comes from the U.S. Bill of Rights where we are able to “freely associate” with others.  So, we join together, pool our funds and start a museum, for example. This edict should easily be incorporated into the Greek system as well.

As you can see from the chart below, in 1986, governments-local, state and Federal-levels-supported 40 percent of all the operational budgets for museums throughout the United States. By 2008, this source of funds dropped to 24 percent. The difference has been made up by private gifts. How did we do it? The answer can be seen in the most recent Giving USA data, which shows that 73 percent of all charitable support is given by individuals. Ask yourself, What are you doing to make sure you are keeping a diversified donor base and keep your museum’s private support growing…because today, this is a worldwide necessity for all our charitable organizations.

 

We have managed, some years better than others, to support our cultural organizations with private support, even as government support has dramatically decreased. I am optimistic that our lessons can be translated into Greek lessons on private philanthropy, much like early Greek thought has helped shape our civilization.

The word philanthropy comes from the Greek word philanthrōpos ; meaning humane, benevolent. I look forward to learning from the Greeks, where philanthrōpos was first recognized, and am hopeful that sharing basic fundraising lessons with our colleagues there will help their organizations thrive and continue to protect and display the treasures that the Greek people have created throughout time.

After all, it is our history too!

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By Jim Hackney,
Managing Partner

I had the tremendous honor of being invited by the U.S. State Department to travel to Greece on their behalf as an Arts Envoy. My mission, this past November, was to meet with and train staff members at several museums and science centers. The subject of my work was seemingly simple: How to start a basic fundraising program.

In both Thessaloniki in the north and Athens in the south, people were eager to absorb our philosophy and learn how to increase private financial resources. Most cultural organizations in Greece are government funded. However, with that country’s current financial crisis, budgets have been cut between 40 and 68 percent, sometimes overnight.

To get things started, I led the workshop Inviting Philanthropy, which set up a week of intense, if not primary, fundraising work. In the Greek culture “philanthropy” is a word used only for social service needs; not cultural or educational institutions. We had our work cut out for us!

Somewhere along the way, during my 32 years working in development, I knew that “philanthropy” was a Greek-based word that meant, “love of humankind.” I now found myself having to change the way this ancient culture not only looked at philanthropy, but I also had to teach them how to apply it outside the box. After discussions with several museum directors, it was clear that philanthropy was the right word for what cultural organizations in Greece were tasked to undertake.

The challenge now is that Greek donors, and cultural workers, will have to learn to expand the definition of philanthropy. And even more importantly, these once government-funded institutions will have to learn how to raise philanthropic “private” dollars…which is something they have not needed until now.

When I returned home, I read a significant study released by CompassPoint that reports that nonprofits of all types in the United States are in real danger because of the continuing decline of philanthropic dollars. The study interviewed volunteers, development officers and executive directors, and confirms what many of us (and you) have known for years:

• • There are unrealistic fundraising demands placed on development staff members.
  • Board members and Executive Directors must be involved in a “culture” of philanthropy if a nonprofit is going to succeed.
  • You can’t just hire staff and expect that your fundraising needs will be taken care of.

There are many other important gems to be mined from this report. You can find it here.

Just as Greek cultural organizations are starting to learn how to raise private dollars, we have a lot of work to do to continue to build our own development structures at home. This trip to Greece reminded me, once again, that we have to take care of our staff, nurture our relationships with supporters, and invite new individuals to join with us in support of our cultural organizations. How does your museum stack up?

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