Resources for Organizations Working With Artists

Welcome! This is a resource for people who are invested in improving the lives of artists everywhere.

We have three pages for resources geared towards your work:

• Resources for Grantmakers
• Resources for Individual Artists
• Resources for Organizations Working With Artists

Advocacy

• MASSCreative -Organization that supports arts organizations in Massachusetts.
• WebAIM - Empowers organizations to make their websites friendly for people with disabilities.
• NEA's Section 504 Workbook - Workbook from the NEA that allows organizations to evaluate how accessible their programs are.
• NEA's Civil Rights (External) Complaint Process - NEA's process for filing civil rights complaints.
• Arts Action Fund - National arts advocacy group dedicating 100% of time to advancing the arts.
• Americans for the Arts Advocacy Toolkit - A guide for organizations that politically advocate on behalf of artists.
• VisualArts.net | National Association for the Visual Arts - Australian organization with examples of arts campaigns.
• Grantmakers in the Arts | Supporting Individual Artists: Ten Years, Ten Lessons
• Why Should Government Support the Arts?
• Grantmakers in the Arts | Supporting Individual Artists: A Toolbox
• Grantmakers in the Arts | Support for Individual Artists in the Folk and Traditional Arts Julie Dalgleish
• Grantmakers in the Arts | Understanding Support for Individual Artists: Making a Case for National Standards, John Carnwath
• Why Cities Can’t Afford to Lose Their Artists, Richard Florida, 2014
• Grantmakers in the Arts | Supporting Individual Artists—Preserving the Core of Humanity, GIA Support for Individual Artists Group Steering Committee, 2011
• McKinsey | And the Winner is… Philanthropists and Governments Make Prizes Count McKinsey & Company, 2009
• Nonprofit Quarterly | How Nonprofit Board Members Can Be Effective Advocates in Troubled Times Nonprofit Quarterly, 2017

Community Connections

• Americans for the Arts Local Arts Network - Forum for leaders in local arts institutions to discuss barriers and success stories.
• Americans for the Arts Private Sector Network - Network of businesses interested in partnering with arts organizations.
• National Council of Nonprofits: Find Your State Association - Listings of nonprofits in your state.
• Urban Insitute | Arts & Culture: Community Connections - An Urban Institute report on the benefits of engaging communities with art.
• Community Toolbox | Writing a Grant Application for Funding - Step-by-step instructions on writing a grant application.
• Nonprofit Quarterly | How Nonprofits Use Social Media to Engage with Communities - Using social media to assess the needs of your community.
• Createquity | What Makes Arts Organizations Civically Engaged?
• Americans for the Arts

Organizational Capacity

• LinkedIn | Strong Corporate Cultures Are “Self-Organizing” - Private sector organizing that is relevant in the social profit sector.
• Council of Nonprofits | Succession Planning for Nonprofits - Managing Leadership Transitions - Some considerations for writing a succession plan.
• Council of Nonprofits | Why and How to Hire an Interim Executive Director
• Stanford Social Innovation | The Nonprofit Leadership Development Deficit - On preparing homegrown leaders at nonprofits.
• BoardSource | Exit Planning for Retiring Nonprofit CEOs - Balancing the "three jobs" of a leaving CEO.
• McKinsey | Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool - A tool by McKinsey & Co to help nonprofits identify operational capacity, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Bridgespan | How to Develop Yourself as a Nonprofit Leader - Advice from six senior nonprofit leaders.
• Forbes | Nonprofit Leadership Strategies For Attracting And Retaining Talent - Retaining talent in order to by helping employees develop.
• Classy | Strengthen Your Nonprofit with a Strategic Partnership - Benefits of partnership when working with budget constraints.
• Council of Nonprofits | What is Capacity Building? - Investing in effectiveness and sustainability for your organization.
• KR Foundation | The Rainin Arts Real Estate Strategy - A collaborative strategy connecting resources in the community to the real estate needs of arts and cultural organizations.

Engaging with Artists

• Wallace Foundation | Cultural Collaborations: Building Partnerships for Arts Participation - A study about how to partner with artists and the benefits of creating alliances.
• Arts & Planning Toolkit - Toolkit for community development workers through projects that engage arts, culture, and the creative community.
• Toolkit: Engaging Your Community
• Creative Mornings | Artists as Leaders - A talk by the president of RISD about appreciating the role of artists in society.
• Artwork Archive - Provides organizations of all types simple, yet powerful tools to organize, document, and safeguard their art collection.

Paying Artists

• W.A.G.E. - Focused on regulating the payment of artist fees and establishing sustainable labor relationships between artists and the institutions.
• W.A.G.E. Certification - Certification for non-profits committed to paying artists equitably.
• W.A.G.E. Fee Calculator - Calculates equitable pay rate for artists based on nonprofit's TAOE.
• Sternberg Press | Are You Working Too Much? Post-Fordism, Precarity, and the Labor of Art - Collection of academic essays regarding the structures that contribute to low wages for artists.
• IFACCA | Report: Researching Artists’ Working Lives - An introduction to understanding research around paying artists.
• Exhibition Payment Guide - Guidelines for paying artists for exhibitions in nonprofit arts spaces.
• Why Are Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts - Understanding the "economy of the arts" as atypical.
• How the National Endowment for the Arts Funds the Arts - A comprehensive overview of government arts funding.
• Americans for the Arts | Report: Americans Support Increases in Government Arts Funding - Facts and figures regarding public opinion of arts funding.

Funding Individual Artists

• Council of Nonprofits | Fiscal Sponsorship for Nonprofits - Information regarding the benefits of adopting the model of fiscal sponsorship.
• Nonprofit Law Blog | Fiscal Sponsorship: Six Ways to Do It Wrong - Avoiding legal complications in a fiscal sponsorship program.
• Fundraising Coach | 11 Experts on How to Get New Donors - Advice on creating a donor network and using it effectively.
• Nonprofit Law Blog | Fiscal Sponsorship: A Valuable Option for Grantmakers and Grantees - Quick legal information on ensuring a fiscal sponsor is eligible to give.
• Also visit our page Resources for Grantmakers.

Services & Programs

• How it's Being Done: Arts Business Training in the US - web-sourced inventory of field-based arts business training opportunities
• Artist Professional Development Needs Research Findings
• SNAAP Strategic National Arts Alumni Project - Special Report Career and Entrepreneurial Skills Training for Artists
• Professional Artist | Creating an Artist-Friendly Community
• Project Management Institute | Report: Measuring Program Success - Academic report on guidelines for measuring program success.
• Oklahoma Arts | How to Develop a Community Arts Council - Structuring an arts council for success.
• Nonprofit Law Blog | Arts Projects: Charitable or Not? - Understanding which programs may legally qualify for tax exemptions.
• Americans for the Arts | Emerging Leaders Network - Organization that helps young people in arts administration reach their full potential
• Grantmakers in the Arts | Review of Scholarly Research on Artist Support - Surveys of the literature on individual artists’ sources of support and related topics.

Power

• Council of Nonprofits | Nonprofits, You Are the Champions for Diversity, Inclusion and Equity - Moving on from conversation about diversity to meaningfuk action.
• HuffPost | 7 Tips on How Nonprofits can Attract Corporate Funding: Part Two - Advice from social profit sector veterans on raising money from corporations.
• HuffPost | 7 Tips on How Nonprofits can Attract Corporate Funding: Part One - Advice from social profit sector veterans on raising money from corporations.
• Community Toolbox | Building Culturally Competent Organizations - Case study in working with diverse communities and maximizing efficiency in periods of change.
• Nonprofit Engage | Embracing a More Diverse Audience in Arts and Culture - Making organizational changes to capture more diverse audiences.
• Forbes | What's Your Feedback Loop? - Incentivizing feedback.
• Council for Nonprofits | Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter for Nonprofits - Prioritizing diversity in order to build more effective organizations.
• National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy | Implicit Bias and Its Role in Philanthropy and Grantmaking - Understanding the science of implicit bias.
• Fast Company | 5 Charts that Illustrate the Racial Bias in the Nonprofit World - Facts and figures depicting inequality at all levels of the nonprofit world.
• Createquity | Making Sense of Cultural Equity

Blogs & News

• Jumper - Diane Ragsdale on what the arts do and why.
• Artivate - Organization committed to expanding access to arts, with blog posts.
• The Artful Manager - Andrew Taylor on the business of arts and culture.
• Createquity - Think tank investigating issues in the arts.
• Barry's Blog - News, advice, and opinion for the arts administrator.
• Harvard Business Review - Ideas and Advice for leaders.
• Artrepreneur - Entrepreneurship, technology, law, and conversation in the arts.
• Bridgespan Group Highlights - News and advice from top nonprofit consultants.
• ArtsJournal - Source for arts and cultural journalism.
• Non Profit Quarterly - News about innovations in the nonprofit sector.
• Classy - Fundraising platform with social profit sector blog.
• Nonprofit Law Blog - Legal news and advice for nonprofits by category.

Books

Organizations

• The Social Profit Handbook, David Grant, 2015 ($15.95) - A guide for assessing impact in a mission-driven organization.
• When Leaders Leave: A New Perspective on Leadership Change - Priscilla Rosenwald & Lesley Mallow Wendell, 2013 ($9.99) - Steps for organizations to thrive during a leadership change.
• Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, Leslie Crutchfield & Heather Grant, 2007 ($29.95)
• The Executive Director's Guide to Thriving as a Nonprofit Leader, Mim Carlson & Mararet Donohoe, 2010 ($32.30)

Art World

• 9.5 These on Art and Class, Ben Davis, 2013 ($12.58) - Writings on the direction of contemporary art.
• A Short Life of Trouble, Marcia Tucker, 2010 ($16.59) - Memoir about facing barriers in the art world by the first female curator at the Whitney.