A two-part column about you, your nonprofit arts company, and the power of your choices In these heady days where the mere act of watching RuPaul’s Drag Race self-qualifies you as an expert on the LGBT community (it doesn’t), where putting a “We support the Black Community” manifesto on your arts organization’s website self-qualifies you as an equity activist (it doesn’t), … [Read more...] about Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part One)
The Con Is On – Raising Emergency Money at the Expense of Everyone Else Is Not a Heroic Act
Especially when you leave the premises just before the devastation and claim victory I can’t believe that this is not only still happening, but that you’re allowing it to happen. The San Francisco Bay area is geographically and demographically large. Stretching across nine counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and … [Read more...] about The Con Is On – Raising Emergency Money at the Expense of Everyone Else Is Not a Heroic Act
Nonprofit Arts Marketing – Drive for Image First; The Road to Revenue Follows
Or, Drive for Money First; The Road to Oblivion Follows Over the last couple of columns, we’ve talked about the coming war. I need a break from that, and I’m sure you do, too. Let’s head back over to the land of the living, at least for the moment, and help them support your work. In your nonprofit arts organization, the person leading that effort is the marketing … [Read more...] about Nonprofit Arts Marketing – Drive for Image First; The Road to Revenue Follows
You Cannot Be Serious.
Sackler Donations Are Back… And No, That’s Not Good News On September 18, 1926, H.L. Mencken wrote the following in The Sun, Baltimore’s daily newspaper: Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by … [Read more...] about You Cannot Be Serious.
Nonprofit Arts Leaders: One Final Note About the Upcoming War
…until, of course, the catalyst event happens, at which point you’ll probably think to yourself, “How did Alan know?” I’m not prescient. In fact, there is still a naïve part of me that hopes that people have discovered that, in fact, war is not healthy for children and other living things. But first… My new book is now available everywhere, even as an eBook. And if … [Read more...] about Nonprofit Arts Leaders: One Final Note About the Upcoming War