We don’t post here on this blog very much. So don’t be surprised if it’s been awhile…..
We don’t post here very much….
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Author Archives: leslie
Remember – the arts are considered to be “intellectual”
Read this. It beautifully describes part of the problem.
Didn’t you know this stuff ?
Plato
Read this:
Then ask yourself how much of it “felt right” to you?
And i you can remember back to that survey course you took in History of Philosophy as an undergraduate, consider it in the context of Plato’s Charioteer Allegory. After all, whether you knew it at the time or not, those philosophy courses were one of the most important parts of your education as a fund raiser!
Plato
Opera is dead. Really?
Opera is dead. Really?
On the Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” (now there’s a word that should have never been born), Christopher Ingraham posits that opera is dead, based on an analysis of works produced by the Metropolitan Opera that shows that the Met rarely performs operas created in the past 50 years.  He asserts that ” opera ceased to exist as a contemporary art form roughly around 1970″.
You can read the whole thing here:Â http://wapo.st/1xtoFNo
Decide for yourself.
Younger donors?
If you’re responsible for deepening your donor pool/audience by cultivating younger donors, this recent article from The New York Times could prove helpful to you.
Your first time at a Board meeting
I’m doing some work today to help a client prepare for the first Board meeting of a brand new non-profit organization. Heady stuff!
While I was poking around on the Interwebs, I found this wonderful article on Fast Company about this very thing:Â http://www.fastcompany.com/1705897/heading-your-first-nonprofit-board-meeting-heres-what-you-need-know
It’s a quick read by Alice Korngold that outlines some Do’s and Don’ts for the first time Board member, whether it’s first time as an npo Board member or first time as a new Board member.
Time to make the “Big Ask”?
If this article in today’s New York Times is correct, then perhaps it’s “safe” for fund raisers to go back to asking high net worth donors for big money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/19/business/americas-sinking-middle-class.html?smid=pl-share
Because the steady, reliable decent base of middle class donors is going away. ??
Some Arts Institutions Deserve to Fail
Did you read Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal this morning? Is he writing about your organization?
Teachout
Read it here:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304391204579179752453450202
If you missed this column in today’s edition of The New York Times or on Arts Journal, find it here:
Critic Michael Kimmelman makes one of the most important comments ever about the inevitability of art when he says “But as the years have gone by, art continues to be found, refusing oblivion.”
Agreed?
Recovered plundered art
“Things should be going better for our department”
A beloved former client writes:
“It seems somebody thinks things should be going better for our department.”
So here’s my question….what’s the metric for “going better” and based on those metrics, are things actually “going better”?
Remember the three Great Tasks of work:
Think
Create
Communicate.
Create
Communicate.
If things are going better (or at least holding their own), has that fact been appropriately communicated?
Just a thought this morning.