Let’s Put our Hearts
into the Future of our Cultural Life
I urge the Cultural Life Task Force to let go of a
half-century old approach and get with the 21st century emphasis on
direct involvement in the excitement of the arts, science and history within
the Charlotte region—not only as audience members but also and most importantly
as donors.
Most of us make tax-deductible contributions to causes or
nonprofit organizations each year. For
example, you may give to the university you attended, to a food bank, the Red
Cross or the Charlotte Symphony. You
personally make the decision about where your gift will go, because you
personally believe in the value of the services of these groups. You believe strongly in what they do and when
you make your gift, you feel good about it.
It’s direct and it’s personal.
This is what true philanthropy is all about. It comes from our passion about a cause or
service. That kind of feeling is missing
with a united-fund approach (aka ‘work-place giving’) that has been operating
here for over fifty years. Gifts by
workers under this approach go to the Arts and Science Council which then
disperses those funds to the various arts/cultural groups according to certain
criteria. The original donor has no say
in how her funds are used. Recently,
there has been some choice included in the campaigns, but the system remains at
best an indirect way from the donor’s standpoint of supporting arts and
culture.
The recent recession demonstrated a weakness of this
system. The ASC, the ‘middle-man’ of
this approach, lost 65% of support from businesses and foundations since the
recession. If direct and personal
philanthropy had been the major approach since the late 1950s, the effect of
the downturn might not have been so severe.
More importantly, the various arts and cultural groups would not have
developed a certain level of dependency upon the ASC. Most of the larger organizations receive a
quarter to a third of their total budgets from their annual ASC grant. Their staffs get very used to seeing they
have to raise only 66% or 75% of their total expenses, because the ASC grant
will be there for them.
What should the Cultural Life Task Force do? What should we do? The Task Force will be in closed sessions
until it issues its recommendations in early 2014. Hopefully they will be
willing to hear your ideas.
I recommend that we begin to move to a direct and personal
philanthropic model to support our cultural life in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Work-place giving does not have to totally
disappear, but it should be significantly reduced. I would suggest a ten-year transition period
to the personal philanthropic model.
This would give the organizations time to ramp up their cultivation and
direct solicitation programs targeted to individuals who have a direct interest
in the organizations’ art, science and history missions. The ASC can be a catalyst to this change,
offering training assistance and other resources encouraging individual
involvement and giving.
Let’s connect our fellow citizens and their families
directly with the talented and devoted people who make art, explain history and
demonstrate science. Culture is not
about selling cars or houses. Culture is
all about an experience. You can’t buy
it, take it home and put it on the shelf.
Culture is all about touching our emotions, our heart. And personal philanthropy is all about giving
from the heart. Let’s make that happen
here.
