Eight-year-old Milwaukee Shakespeare had a bad bit of news this month, with the loss of funding from the Argosy Foundation. It’s certainly not the only arts organization seeing losses of foundation funding, as assets for most have taken double-digit percentage declines, and cash is getting tight. But Argosy was a particularly important foundation to the theater’s bottom line, on deck to provide $925,000 of the organization’s $1.3 million budget for 2008-09.
Says the article:
Milwaukee Shakespeare was uniquely vulnerable to Argosy’s cash
constraints because of its unusual relationship with the foundation.
The company was founded in 2000 by Abele and actor-director John
Maclay, two friends from their student days at Lawrence University.
Maclay served as Milwaukee Shakespeare’s first artistic director before
leaving the troupe in 2003.
There are certainly benefits to significant and singular patronage. But the plight of Milwaukee Shakespeare underscores the value of diversifying your revenue portfolio.
Hi Susan:
Here is a brutal renew problem. Wow.
Glenn
Andrew —
I suspect the nonprofit world is littered with organizations that rely on too few sources of income (for whatever reasons) and find themselves learning the hard lesson of income diversification. I’m thinking about the flip side, too. That is, when might diversification of income streams dilute mission? How can an organization figure out its tipping point?
Anne Ackerson