Book Description

Abstract: This paper was written at a time of great attitudinal change in many American cities toward cultural support. Cities are reflecting on how to position their arts and cultural institutions for economic purposes, while simultaneously trying to leverage their vitality. Cultural administrators find themselves justifying the benefits of the arts to government officials, to philanthropic entities such as foundations and to corporate and individual patrons. Arts administrators are promulgating the fact that the arts and culture provide a unique platform for educating youth and helping communities. Some arts organizations and cultural institutions scorn a united arts front while other groups, in light of the events of 9/11, are starting to embrace shared resources and visions. In Columbus, where institutional endowments are scarce and competition for grant money by nonprofits is tight, asset building and working on a united vision is difficult. However, without pragmatic giving by institutions, nonprofits without large endowments would have trouble sustaining themselves. This paper acknowledges the idea that corporate social responsibility is now a universally accepted reality in our business community. Yet this paper also reports that many corporations remain unaware of how to best approach this complicated matter. Therefore three tools have been offered to make this difficult journey easier for businesses keen on expanding their approaches and attitudes. Recommended for valuable giving are the virtue matrix ideals along with concepts of the NewTithing Group with the Business Committee for the Arts. This triumvirate is explained in the paper along with the individual attributes that make each prong essential and exciting. A main objective of this paper is to contextualize the sphere of cultural philanthropy as it relates to different sectors. This re-contextualizing helps us to better understand the interplay between the factions. Therefore, discussions about the arts as a societal sector along with streams of funding and a description of corporate philanthropy appear. In an effort to track corporate giving, a cross city comparison between three Columbus, Ohio businesses and three Minnesotan businesses was performed. The new data that emerged displayed a strong connection showing that cities where companies are headquartered give the vast majority of their arts giving locally. This information lead to discussions about cultivating climates of philanthropy and the issues surrounding communication between nonprofits and their funders.