Can’t Buy Me Love

In my last post I ended part-way through a rant about the widely perceived incompatibility of a “fundraising board” with true commitment to community engagement or, more broadly, diversity in general. Without repeating that post, the principal concern was the assumption that money was the only or by far the most important resource that board members can bring to an organization. If that is the conscious or even unconscious view of the board, anyone who is serving the organization by bringing community connections will inevitably feel (and be) marginalized.

But what if we thought of this another way? If becoming important to new segments of the community were the main (or only) path to long-term health (via ticket sales and donations from new constituencies  and public  or private funding from new sources), then the people who can provide access to those new constituencies are more important than those who “merely” give money.

No amount of money can buy trust. (Access, maybe. Trust, never.) And many arts organizations have a trust deficit among communities that must be addressed for the sake of their futures. The individuals willing to serve as liaisons to new communities put their own hard-earned reputations as trustworthy citizens on the line if they agree to be ambassadors for an arts organization. Arts organizations must work first to build trust with those individuals and then work even harder to be trustworthy as these people build bridges in communities on our behalf. (Mandatory caveat: No individual can by themselves represent an entire community. Nor should they be expected to do so. At best individuals can provide access to others who, with them, can together guide the relationship building process.)

Arts organizations must come to truly understand the nearly immeasurable value of community liaisons. The people who serve in those roles must never feel marginalized because they do not provide the kind of money that fundraising board members do. There is no amount of money that can buy the legitimacy that they can provide.

Engage!

Doug

Photo: “The Beatles (with Jimmy Nicol) 1964 001” by VARA – Beeld en Geluidwiki – Gallery: The Beatles. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 nl via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Beatles_(with_Jimmy_Nicol)_1964_001.png#/media/File:The_Beatles_(with_Jimmy_Nicol)_1964_001.png