Giving, Definitions, and Consciousness | October 2022

Here are three things that I have been contemplating:

1. Giving to the arts in an age of permanent change
The 2021 Giving USA report, the annual report released each summer on American philanthropy (my preferred study to follow), shows that giving remained robust in 2021: Donors gave ~$484.85 billion, the second-highest year for giving (all numbers are here are adjusted for inflation). Total giving grew 4% from 2020 (largely due to a strong stock market and GDP), but inflation-adjusted it remained flat (-0.7% change). Giving by individuals and foundations stayed stagnant; giving by corporations increased by ~18%.

Six of the nine subsectors stayed stagnant or grew. Rebounding slightly from the dire giving numbers in 2020 (a decrease of 8+% from 2019, while essentially every other sector saw record growth), the arts, culture, and humanities sector grew 21.8% to $23.50 billion. This is attributed to the return of earned-income, capital campaigns resuming, and large pledges paid off. But, giving to the sector STILL stubbornly sits at only ~4% of overall charitable giving, year upon year upon year.

Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes that “Despite a massive increase in new donors during COVID, the number of new donors in 2021 essentially remained flat.” And when it comes to 2022 giving, the Independent Sector's Health of the U.S. Nonprofit Sector Quarterly Review indicates that charitable giving is returning to pre-pandemic levels, BUT: “while the amount of money donated to charities increased in the first quarter of 2022, the number of donors declined, resuming a more than 10-year downward trend observed before the pandemic.” The report also notes that (only) “56% of the U.S. public trust nonprofits to do what is right in 2022, down 3 percentage points from 2020.”

We are living in a permanent change scenario and a time of global upheaval on every level, therefore we can expect constant crises for the near future. All this data from the past few years illustrates something crucial to recognize and grapple with: when there are crises, people step up to give to those immediate needs, diverting their giving from the arts. Therefore, what can we expect going forward in this age of upheaval? How do we make the case that the arts — a sector that brings awareness of, dialogue about, and resources to global challenges — must be robustly supported to do so?

Until we are able to make this argument we will remain a sector in peril. We could continue to lose donors in moments of extreme crisis, and not necessarily get those donors back when things are interpreted to “rebalance”.

I take particular pause when considering the decrease in individual gifts in the 2021 report. It’s worth noting that individuals make up the largest percentage of philanthropic giving in America, and as we’re going through a generational transfer, those inheriting or self-made wealth creators are turning away from the arts to other philanthropic causes. When will we put all this together and notice that our work of re-imagining storytelling, collaborating, engaging, and programming is more critical than ever to recruit the next generation?

Let’s ask: What are you doing as an artist, as an institutional leader, as a next gen representative of your family to promote the stories of how the arts impact humanity for the better? Here are strategies to help you drive change and create relevancy.

2. An updated definition of a Museum
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) recently updated its definition of a Museum to:

“A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”

All good, but they lost me at the fifth word...Why a “not-for-profit”??? (And why “permanent”?)

While this statement includes necessary values, and through its (buzz)word choices acknowledges the progressive changes we need to make in the field, it limits itself with the use of the word “non-for-profit”. Can we not do all these things — researches, collect, conserve, interpret and exhibit — with a different financial and structural model? We need to expand our idea of what arts organizations can be, and how they can be run (nonprofits rely on oversight and funding from that select group, largely homogenous — trustees), and open ourselves up to the myriad of business models available, and perhaps better suited to establish our sector as a force for robust investment to achieve impact, equity, and progress. Why are we limiting ourselves? Why are we limiting our funding model to just the nonprofit one? 

3. Global awakening / Shift in Consciousness
As I finish a year of yoga teacher training with Yoga Off Broadway, I am compelled to integrate the tenets of this practice into my organizational and philanthropic consulting work. What is happening on a global societal, political, and philanthropic level is indeed a massive shift of consciousness. And it requires us to foster techniques to make change from a present place, not a reactive one. I look forward to exploring this new opportunity further, and working with you to align who we are, how we work, and how we present our best selves and that work to the world in order to move the sectors forward. More to come.