Could This Be a Good Time for Fundraising? Surviving the Financial Crisis

There are jobs that are recession proof—teaching, health care, some technology, undertakers. Their work will continue despite a downturn—a severe downturn—in the economy. And then there’s us. When money is tight, entertainment budgets are often the first to go. So there go ticket sales.

Unfortunately, a bad economy doesn’t just affect ticket buyers. Corporate sponsors, donors and foundations are also feeling the squeeze in decreased earnings, decreased interest, and devalued investments that they rely on to finance their funding. There goes unearned income too.

Will nonprofit arts organizations be able to ride out this bad economy? Debate in forums such as the Chronicle of Philanthropy online is strong on both sides. The good news—if there is any good news—is that some experts think that giving will at least remain steady. The bad news is that some others think that fundamental changes in the way that nonprofits are financed may be ahead. Not all nonprofits will make it through to the other side and, some think, maybe not all of them should. Like their commercial counterparts, nonprofits should deal with some competition in the marketplace. If there’s no market for their services, or their target population is overserved, economics might dictate who survives and who doesn’t.

So, what’s the best way to survive the worst economy in decades and possibly a complete change in how nonprofit financing works? The answer is to look internally. Nonprofit organizations with the sharpest sense of who they are and what they do will have a fighting chance. If a nonprofit can convey a clear mission and argue that its target population will go unserved without its programs, that organization is likely to find sources of funding. In other words, know who you are, what you do, and be as unique as possible. Create a thorough list of questions (or contact me for one) for your board and staff to discuss where you are, where you’re going, and who you know that can help you to get there.

I also recommend, even during this bad economy, that arts organizations continue to seek new sources of funding from foundations and corporations. But—and here’s the weird part—don’t expect to get it. A large part of fundraising is socializing and persuasion. Often, even in a good economy, a funder wants to get to know a nonprofit organization before committing to a significant grant or gift. Rejections to applications don’t always mean that funders aren’t a good match or don’t understand or care about your programs; they often come with encouragement to apply again so the funder has more time to follow your organizational growth. And you never know—you might impress some funders on your first try. If not, don’t get discouraged by rejections or smaller-than-expected donations. Use the bad economy as a time to build relationships, which is often a necessary phase of fundraising anyway.

So buck up and get to work. Even though we’re not in an economic cycle where a lot of nonprofit arts organizations will grow, it is a good time for setting the groundwork for later growth. Look inward, look outward, and start on the road to becoming stronger and more secure in the future.

The World Is Their Stage

A blogger who recently learned that I work in theater asked me to write a post answering the question “Why is it important to introduce children to theater?” I thought that was pretty topical since kids recently returned to school. It’s also topical since I recently started working with a children’s theater company. Here’s the answer in a nutshell.

Someone once wrote, “All the world’s a stage.” He didn’t write “All the world’s a science lab” or “All the world’s a math club.” Nope, all the world is definitely a stage. There’s your answer right there. Theater is important.

Okay, so the guy who wrote that was Shakespeare. He may have been a little biased toward the stage. In fact, I think I once read that Shakespeare never even studied science or math in school. What he wrote is true though. Each of us, in everything we do, is living a story. In our actions. In our communications. In our emotions. In our just being. And the world is the stage on which this story plays out.

Like Shakespeare, I’m a guy who values the arts. I got involved in theater in high school, and got more involved in college where I also took several theater classes. After college, I completed a graduate program in Theater Management and Production at Columbia University School of the Arts. My training and experience includes both non-profit and commercial venues on Broadway, Off Broadway, in regional and community theaters in New York and Connecticut, and in theater service and advocacy organizations. Since high school, I’ve produced, stage managed, acted, directed and designed for theater.

When my daughter was just two years old, she began coming with me occasionally to a theater where I was then working full-time. She would have a ball there, and most everyone on staff and involved in productions knew her and loved seeing her around. When I’d bring her to production meetings or rehearsals, she loved looking at the lights, sets and costumes for each production. By the age of three, she was sitting through full productions and concerts. By the age of four, she had even made her stage debut in the children’s chorus of a production of Seussical. Since then, she’s seen shows in community theaters, regional theaters, and on Broadway. And she’s still only six. (Or six and three-quarters if you ask her.) So, for anyone wondering how and when to introduce their kids to the arts, my answer is start ‘em young. Not everyone works at a theater obviously and can bring their kids to see a stage and watch rehearsals, but most larger cities have some kind of theater for kids. Even a good story time at libraries can be an introduction. Start ‘em young and they’ll want more.

But what about the parents who aren’t so sure that theater is important at all? To them, I say, “Maybe you’re right.” Maybe your kids won’t like theater. Maybe they won’t be interested in art or music. But, maybe they will. And maybe they won’t be interested in math, science or sports. Kids should have the opportunity to explore as many subjects and activities as are available to them. On their own, they may discover—like I did—that the arts are pretty important to them.

In this age of “no child left behind” and teaching for testing, arts programs have been reduced or dropped altogether at many schools. In response, researchers have conducted studies to attempt to show the importance of the arts. Students who study the arts perform better in other subjects. Students who study the arts learn discipline, collaboration, participation, and empathy. Students who study the arts develop more self-esteem. But, by their very subjective nature, it’s pretty difficult to “prove” that the arts do anything. In my experience, the proof isn’t in any numbers or statistics, but in the children themselves.

My last full-time position in theater involved producing a few children’s performances during the school year. Five or six times a year, over 1500 students would come to the theater by bus. For some of them, it was their first time in a theater that didn’t face a movie screen. Seeing the eyes of just a few of them light up—knowing that they might be thinking, “Maybe I could be a part of this someday”—makes theater worth it. For a few of them, theater probably will be important in their lives. Most of them probably won’t grow up to be actors, directors or producers any more than they’ll grow up to be princesses, ballerinas, cowboys or astronauts. But theater may be important to them nonetheless.

In the long term though, theater and the arts aren’t important only to a few of us. A professor—and not a theater or arts professor—once asked a class I was in whether we thought the sciences or the arts and humanities were more important. There were arguments on both sides, but I’ll always remember one the most. The sciences heal us, feed us, shelter us, and keep us alive. But it’s the arts and humanities that we stay alive for. Across centuries, across borders, across all times and places, the arts endure and connect us as humans. The arts—and the ability to think and create—are what make us human and humane. And maybe, just maybe, the kids that you take to see Peter Rabbit or bring to story hour at the library will discover that too. At the very least, those kids will discover that all the world’s their stage. They’ll discover that they can be anyone and do anything. Is there anything more important than that?

Should a Script Be Changed for Its Audience? Not Without Permission

Recently, Tom Grisamore made national theater news. He isn’t an actor, director, designer or theater artist of any kind. He’s an administrator—and a parks department administrator at that.

Grisamore, the Park District Executive Director in Wilmette, Illinois, recently canceled an outdoor community production of the musical Ragtime because he learned—several weeks into rehearsals and just two weeks before opening—that the musical contained “the n word” and other derogatory ethnic slurs. The lyrics of Ragtime were written by Lynn Ahrens, and the music was composed by Stephen Flaherty. The book, based on the novel by E.L Doctorow, was written by Terrence McNally. Ragtime won 1998 Tony Awards for the score and book as well as a couple of others. The point of this background is to show that Ragtime isn’t an obscure musical written by a couple of hatemongers. The story in fact explores and criticizes the effects of racial and ethnic injustice in turn-of-the-twentieth-century America.

I’ll assume that most of this blog’s readers fall on the same side of the freedom of speech issue. If not, feel free to speak up. (See how that works?) The Wilmette story was reported in arts news around the country, and many bloggers criticized Grisamore as well. Following the publicity of the cancellation, the production was picked up for performance as a concert version by the Wilmette Theatre. More recently, it was reported that the Park Department will allow the production indoors in a Community Recreation Center. According to Grisamore, “We have maintained from the start that we back the performance of this show. Our problem has been with the venue because we believe it is a show for more mature audiences and better suited to indoor theater.”

Whether you agree with Grisamore’s initial decision or not, one thing is certain—as Ragtime “producer,” in some sense of that word, Grisamore should have been familiar with the story, subject matter, and actual language of the musical long before rehearsals began. His admitted ignorance of these things until after rehearsals had started was a major error.

That said, Grisamore did do one thing right in this fiasco—he requested permission from the authors’ licensing agent before producing the musical with a changed script. In the Wilmette case, the authors, or licensing agent MTI, might have learned of the controversy and the changes. Each word change would have reportedly subjected the town to fines up to $150,000. Even in lower profile cases, however, agents can often learn about changes to a show’s book or lyrics. I know of one community theater that once had to hold the curtain and rehearse on a performance night when agents learned of script changes and demanded that the production be canceled or the script be performed as written immediately. But fear of being caught shouldn’t be the only reason to respect an author’s work, right?

So, keep the script changes, additions or omissions to Shakespeare and the classics. If you’re performing a play or musical that has to be licensed—whether or not you have to pay royalties—making changes isn’t only unethical and disrespectful, it’s illegal.

What Does the Employee Manual Say?

Earlier this year, I needed to spend many days dedicated to my family. My mother was hospitalized and later passed away. In the following weeks, I had to sort through her belongings, empty her home, and administer her estate. As anyone who has dealt with a death in the family knows, these jobs can go on for weeks or months. At the same time, I needed to be available to my school-age daughter for sick days, early dismissals, rides to ballet and swimming lessons, and time to just have fun together. As a member of the “sandwich generation,” my time for personal business and even work was limited.

I’m not sharing this story for sympathy. I’m sharing it because the time I needed for family this year made me wonder whether I could have gotten the time off if I were working full-time for an organization or business.

When my daughter was born, I took one month off under the Family and Medical Leave Act when my wife returned to work. It was a decision to extend the time before my daughter would have to begin daycare, and it also helped to strengthen the bond between us and make me more comfortable caring for her. It’s a decision I’ll never regret. As a career move, however, I have no doubt that it hurt me, and one senior attorney in the law firm that I worked for at the time told me that outright.

At a theater I later worked at, despite having fifteen paid days off each year in addition to six holidays and unofficial “comp time,” I was made to feel uncomfortable whenever I actually asked to take vacation time or needed to stay home or leave early for my daughter or other personal business. This was despite regularly working sixty, seventy or more hours each week.

Earlier this year, Commongood Careers, a nonprofit search firm in Boston, conducted a survey of 1,750 nonprofit employees and jobseekers and published the results as The Voice of Nonprofit Talent in 2008: Improving Recruitment and Retention by Responding tothe Needs of Nonprofit Employees and Jobseekers. Because many arts employers are nonprofits, the findings might apply to theaters as well as to the social service organizations that the research actually focused on. It might also apply in some ways to commercial theaters where jobseekers often take employment not for the salary and financial benefits, but for love of the work.

According to the research, nonprofit employees plan to have long-term careers in the nonprofit sector. Eighty-four percent of the respondents indicated that “work is part of my identity, not just a way to make a living.” But, the respondents also pointed out several factors limiting a possible long-term nonprofit career. Among those were concerns about salary levels and work-life balance. In fact, the non-salary benefits (other than healthcare) most often listed as important were vacation time and flexible working arrangements.

Over seventy-five percent of respondents believed that nonprofits have to change recruitment, employment and professional development practices if they’re going to attract and retain employees. Commongood Careers CEO James Weinberg said, “To be competitive in recruiting and retaining the next generation of great nonprofit talent, organizations need to listen to jobseekers and pursue creative solutions.” Relying on doing good work or having an appealing mission statement apparently isn’t enough anymore.

The study report suggests eight “strategies” for nonprofit employers to improve. Among those are focusing on all employees’ careers, not only executives, and openly sharing information about the organizations “culture and values.” One of the best ways to share information about benefits—and to communicate to employees that their benefits mean something to executive management—is to list and explain benefits in an employee manual.

Too often, theaters—especially smaller theaters—don’t have employee manuals. These written rules and guidelines not only communicate benefits and terms of employment, but also help employers by setting down general rules and expectations. Even theaters that rely heavily—or even entirely—on volunteer staffing should have written guidelines. When dealing with volunteers, a handbook or manual can often indisputably be referred to for expectations, rules, benefits (such as comp tickets received for example), recognition, or the process of suspension or termination should that be necessary. In my experience, employees and volunteers appreciate having written staff manuals or handbooks.

For employers, writing or revising an employee or volunteer handbook can be done with the help of a little online research to find examples, or—of course—with the help of a consultant like myself who has written both employee and volunteer manuals. For employees, using that promised flex time or getting vacation days off may take a little more effort, but, if your theater doesn’t have an employee manual, why not bring that up as a first step? It’ll be something you’ll refer to again and again.

Why Hire a Consultant?

Consultants today are hired by major corporations, small businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits. Often, the reason for hiring a consultant is a temporary and very specific need for specialized skills or expertise. When they’re hired for a specific period of time or for a special project, consultants are also a cheaper alternative to hiring a full-time—or even part-time—employee.

Employees might sometimes consider a consultant to mean major corporate restructuring and downsizing; they might think that they’re getting an Office Space shake-up. But that’s not always—not even most often—the reason or results of hiring a consultant. Using consultants to supplement and support the staff for strategic planning or project management is much more common. Sometimes, a consultant’s help may even involve only a couple conversations or one day’s work. Consultants can help theaters of any size or type, because all theaters, no matter how large or small—and like any other business—face challenges in both management and production every day.

What are the benefits of hiring a consultant? Here are just a few.

Consultants can offer a new perspective. A fresh and objective point of view—from someone who’s already dealt with similar issues—can lead to creative solutions that anyone too close to a situation might not have considered or be too involved to suggest. Consultants can review anything from season programming to staffing to marketing and fundraising plans to offer feedback that adds ideas and presents all of the consequences—potentially positive and negative—that a decision might cause.

Consultants can motivate and inspire. When consultants offer feedback to a theater, they’re not only giving their own objective opinion, but can motivate a theater’s board and staff to work harder and think more creatively too—the board and staff should even be inspired to work and communicate better on their own. Even consultants working on new programs or initiatives can help boost staff morale throughout an organization.

Consultants can be quick and thorough. Often, a consultant can complete a project more quickly and more thoroughly than a staff member. This isn’t because the staff member isn’t capable or valuable—it’s simply because the consultant can focus full efforts on the project while the staffer probably has a workspace covered with other issues to deal with.

Consultants can handle unfamiliar situations. Because theaters and other arts organizations depend so heavily on creative staff, they’re often organized without all of the management expertise they need to sustain them over the long run. Even theaters with skilled managers can benefit from consultants when they face new issues such as unfamiliar contracts or agreements, board and staff development, long-range planning, or transitions.

Consultants add to the workforce. Consultants might be hired for a special project, for review, input or motivation, or even as interim or temporary management during a transition. In any situation, consultants add to your workforce and allow everyone to best focus on their own jobs.

So, why hire a consultant? Maybe you need some specialized experience, want a fresh outlook, or just have too much work to handle. Whatever the reason, working with a consultant can have advantages you might not have even thought of.