• The backlash against unpaid internships has spread beyond our borders: Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has ordered two high-profile Canadian magazines to immediately end their internship programs. The Ministry also announced it plans “an enforcement blitz this spring focused specifically on internships across a variety of sectors.” (NB: while nonprofits are generally exempt from the US Department of Labor requirements for unpaid internships, state laws, including New York’s, can be more stringent.)

MUSICAL CHAIRS

• After nearly 30 years as CEO of National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Jonathan Katz is set to make his exit soon.
• Margit Rankin has resigned as Executive Director of Washington State’s Artist Trust. The Trust plans to “focus on internal efficiencies and statewide reach before hiring [her] replacement.”
• Carolina Garcia Jayaram was recently appointed the new CEO of United States Artists, and will be taking the Los Angeles-based organization back with her to Chicago.
• Miguel M. Salinas, formerly Program Director at the Adobe Foundation, is moving into the newly-created position of Program Officer for Local Grantmaking at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. His portfolio will include arts funding for Northern California’s Monterey County and surrounding region.
• Ken Cole of the National Guild for Community Arts Education will be taking over the role of Vice President of Learning and Leadership Development with the League of American Orchestras.

ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS

• The Detroit Institute of Arts saga continues. Not to be outdone by the “grand bargain” that would offer the city (and its creditors) over $800 million in exchange for taking the art museum (and more importantly, its art) off the table in bankruptcy negotiations, one of those creditors, Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. (FGIC) is now soliciting bids for the DIA’s entire collection. So far, four bids have been received with a high of $2 billion, but they’ve drawn a cool reception from the city’s Emergency Manager, Kevyn Orr. Curious why Wall Street types care so much about a bunch of old paintings? Well, one estimate puts the opportunity cost of displaying Breughel’s “The Wedding Dance” at $1,200 per viewer.
• The CEOs of the Hewlett, Ford, and McKnight Foundations got together to discuss the results of a report that suggests a kind of Lake Wobegon effect among foundation leaders: they tend to be pessimistic about their field’s overall progress toward achieving goals, but optimistic about the work of their own foundations. The three executives acknowledged their incentives to demonstrate individual leadership get in the way of the collaboration and coordination to which they aspire and promote to their grantees.
• Speaking of foundation strategy, Daniel Stid, senior fellow at the Hewlett Foundation, candidly asks on the foundation’s blog whether Hewlett’s nascent bid to advance democracy by supporting both political parties and campaign finance reform makes any sense. Score one for philanthropy transparency – and zero for the rest of us: several days after the post went up, there were exactly no responses.

IN THE FIELD

• In response to an uproar from patrons, the San Diego Opera formed a special committee of the board to explore ways to avert the closure it announced abruptly last month, and a board member has announced a $1-million gift. Also, and we’re not sure which way this cuts, PR doctor Mark Fabiani has volunteered his crisis-management services, putting the Opera in the august company of Whitewater-era Bill Clinton, doping-era Lance Armstrong, and kleptocracy-era Goldman Sachs. Alas, it all seems to have been for naught.
• Portland, Oregon is about to go on a Bard binge: more than fifteen local theater companies are collaborating to produce all of Shakespeare’s works across the city over the next two years.
• Scape Capital, a Russian management firm, has purchased ARTnews from long-time owners Milton and Judith Esterow.

BIG IDEAS

• One possible result of investing in a “STEAM” (science/technology/engineering/math + arts) approach to K-12 education: shifting to a framework of “deeper learning” as amusingly outlined in this recent Hewlett blog and pioneered by San Diego’s High Tech High. High Tech High, incidentally, scores extra awesome points for launching their own MOOCs (with the help of their students) on how to design and build schools using this approach.
• A simple point, but one not made often enough: nonprofits see growth in their costs in part because growth in their revenues makes it possible.
• Are think tanks doomed in the face of human irrationality?

RESEARCH CORNER

• The state of the nonprofit sector is pretty grim, according to the Nonprofit Finance Fund: more than half of surveyed organizations reported they were unable to meet demand for their services, and are operating with three months or less of cash on hand. You can dig into arts-specific data using this interactive tool. Some nuggets: only about a third of arts nonprofits reporting an inability to meet demand, and arts orgs are significantly less likely to regularly collect data long-term data on impact than the nonprofit sector as a whole.
• A new NEA analysis of monthly census data reveals that the unemployment rate for artists continued to drop slightly in 2013 (7.1% vs 7.3% in 2012) and has recovered considerably from its Great Recession peak of 9.5% – though it remains much higher than the 2006 low of 3.6%. Two interesting sidebars: 1) Some findings about those for whom the arts are a secondary job, including the fact that 20% are teachers in their day jobs – and 20% are artists in a different capacity. 2) Although artists are classed as professionals, their 2013 overall unemployment rate was much closer to the total population’s (6.6%) than to other professionals’ (3.6%).
• This handy infographic breaks down the differences between US and UK philanthropy. The gold for sheer size goes the US, where the average person gives almost three times as much and the non-profit sector represents almost seven times as large a share of GDP, but the authors caution their fellow Brits against imitation in the full paper.
• Nifty data crunching suggests that films passing the Bechdel Test — a standard, albeit depressing, measure of gender bias — are actually a much better return on investment than Hollywood execs claim.
• Think there’s no way to judge creativity? Think again: new research suggests that people can be trained to accurately identify “subcomponents” of creativity. Interestingly, the control group  didn’t deem the same works “creative” as the group that received the training. Control group members did, however, tend to identify the same works as other control group subjects, implying they were all reacting to another, unknown component of the art.
• Speaking of assessing creativity, education leaders who bemoan American students’ consistent “underperformance” relative to counterparts in other countries may have a glimmer of hope: the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted its first test of creative problem solving and found that American students did much better than they did on standard reading, math, and science tests. The bad news? They still trailed students from several countries like Singapore and Australia, both of which happen to put heavy emphasis on arts education. Hint, hint…

FEDERAL

Looking forward to Congress’s “lame duck” session after elections this November, Americans for the Arts projects choppy waters ahead for the arts. Indeed, the fun has already started with a proposal from the House of Representatives Interior Subcommittee to cut the NEA’s current appropriation by $14 million to $132 million. At least this means we won’t be fighting over whether the NEA should exist at all this year, but the proposed 9.8% cut comes on top of a 13% cut from the agency’s recent high water mark of $167.5 million. It looks like conservatives are pursuing a strategy to gradually chip away at the Endowment’s appropriations base, figuring that a 10% cut here or there isn’t likely to arouse public outrage but will still further ideological goals.

The Supreme Court had a busy month. You’ve heard, of course about its ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Adam Huttler (head honcho at Fractured Atlas, where I work) came out and praised the Supremes’ 5-4 decision upholding the act as a victory for artists, who are likely a bellwether for the 21st-century knowledge worker: mobile, untethered, and most importantly, self-employed. But the Supreme Court decided some other cases as well, and the Future of Music Coalition weighs in on one of them, in which the Court ruled that Fox and friends don’t have to pay indecency fines for failing to bleep out swearing on a live broadcast and some nudity on an episode of NYPD Blue.

STATE

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA)’s annual appropriations report is out, and after four straight years of declines that saw appropriations to state arts councils drop by more than a quarter, it appears the corner has finally been turned. For Fiscal Year 2013, state arts agencies will receive 8.8% more money than in FY12, with more arts councils seeing increases than decreases. There were still stories of hardship and difficulty this year, most notably in Missouri, which survived for a second straight year mainly by drawing down endowment funds; Louisiana, which saw a 12.6% decrease overall; and Utah, which lost $2 million in line item funding. Meanwhile, the poor New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is locked a war of attrition with conservatives and the state now gives less money to its arts council than the US Virgin Islands. But this year, for the first time in a while, there were some astounding successes. In the past we would celebrate when an arts council got a double-digit increase in funding, but this year a few states broke triple digits: an eye-popping bump of 366.8% in Michigan, 178.4% in the District of Columbia (the largest increase in dollar terms at about $7 million), and 109.7% in Florida. And then of course there was the arts council in Kansas being brought back to life as the Creative Arts Industries Commission. (All four of these places had been hit particularly hard in recent years, so these increases are more about getting things back to where they were rather than achieving new heights.) States and territories achieving less dramatic but still important increases include the Northern Marinaras (63%), Ohio (26.3%), and Iowa (21.7%).

Of course, the legislative appropriations process is not completely finished in all states, and unfortunately for the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Palmetto State is one of the laggards. The SCAC had triumphantly reported to NASAA a 26.4% bump in state appropriations, the increase coming mostly from a one-time special infusion of $500,000 on top of the regularly appropriated budget. But for the third time in as many years, South Carolina’s Republican governor exercised line-item veto power to nix all funds for the SCAC. Arts advocates successfully beat back similar vetoes by Governors Nikki Haley and Mark Sanford with the support of overwhelming majorities from their own party in 2010 and 2011. However, this year is a little different because the legislature did not pass a budget before the July 1 start of the fiscal year, meaning that Haley’s veto has the effect of immediately (for now) dismantling the Arts Commission. Meanwhile, the legislature is being called back into session to vote on overriding the vetoes, and the SCAC bills will be taken up on July 17 and 18. Follow the South Carolina Arts Alliance on Facebook for the latest updates. (Barry has more.)

LOCAL

Arts advocates in Atlanta are having a good month. First, Mayor Kasim Reed is proposing to double the city’s direct investment in arts and culture. That would sound more impressive if not for the fact that the new appropriation to the Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs is still not enough to break $1 million, a fairly amount for the “capital of the South.”  Meanwhile, the more influential Metropolitan Atlanta Arts and Culture Commission (MAACC) is coming under the umbrella of the Atlanta Regional Commission, a move welcomed by arts advocates because the funding streams for MAACC had become more precarious in recent years. The Commission just, uh, commissioned a creative economy inventory from MAACC whose results are available here.

INTERNATIONAL

Canada’s conservative government is seeing the wisdom of supporting the arts, according to an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail. In addition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the article quotes Harper’s Heritages and Official Languages Minister (who is also a Conservative member of parliament from British Columbia) “gushing” about Canada’s vibrant arts industry, which, in his estimation, includes Justin Bieber and Michael Bublé.

Portuguese blogger Maria Vlachou offers up a guest post on Egyptian cultural policy by Reem Kassem, a young cultural activist whose accomplishments are quite impressive. It’s hard to imagine a context more different from the United States than post-Arab Spring Egypt, but much of Kassem’s assessment sounds strangely familiar: “Inevitably, cultural activities are very much centered in Cairo, followed by Alexandria, while the rest of the country is totally ignored. On top of this, traditional forms of cultural activities held in concert halls or conference centers failed to attract new audiences – it’s always the same old faces.” Kassem reports that Egypt’s “underground” arts scene has become very much a part of the revolution against the old order and the new freedoms being sought, and argues that the activation of public space for participatory art will continue to be a critical issue going forward in Egypt.

FEDERAL

The House of Representatives passed a budget resolution based on Paul Ryan’s FY13 budget blueprint that hews closely to conservative thinking on a number of fronts. Included in the document is the following statement on arts funding:

Encourage Private Funding for Cultural Agencies.  Federal subsidies for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting can no longer be justified.  The activities and content funded by these agencies go beyond the core mission of the Federal Government and they are generally enjoyed by people of higher income levels, making them a wealth transfer from poorer to wealthier citizens.  These agencies can raise funds from private-sector patrons, which will also free them from any risk of political interference.

I find it completely amazing that conservatives actually have the chutzpah to make this argument. They are such valiant defenders of the poor that they actually deign to give a rat’s ass about the welfare of our nation’s downtrodden when there’s an opportunity to save them a couple of pennies by eliminating the National Endowment of the Arts. Oh wait, what’s that you say? The poor don’t pay income taxes? So they’re not subsidizing the NEA, or any other government agency for that matter? Which means your argument is full of shit? Got it.

STATE

Poor Kansas is still looking for ways to get back some of what it lost last year when Governor Sam Brownback vetoed the entire budget of the state’s arts commission. The House passed a bill that would add an option to Kansas tax forms that would allow taxpayers to voluntarily contribute to the Kansas Arts Commission. Given that a similar initiative in California raises only 0.4 cents per capita, I doubt that will prove an effective means of resurrecting the agency.

Utah has passed legislation that will put a question on the November ballot asking voters to consider a statewide sales tax to fund cultural agencies as well as zoos and botanical gardens. Dedicated tax streams have proven one of the most lucrative and stable sources of arts funding around, so good luck to arts advocates in moving this one forward.

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies keeps a detailed and regularly updated list of relevant legislation and machinations by state at this link.

LOCAL

Chicago Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Michelle T. Boone sat down for her first interview on the job, talking through the merger with the city’s Office of Special Events, the ongoing citywide cultural plan, and other topics. The Commission’s budget declined by about 10%

Mayor Vincent Gray of Washington, DC is proposing a modest increase in local funding for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which saw its budget decimated last year primarily by cuts from Congress.

INTERNATIONAL

Most of the news this past month relates to fallout from cuts European governments implemented last year. In the UK, The Stage reports that more than one in nine of the 206 arts groups who lost all of their Arts Council England funding intend to close up shop; another 22% are at risk of closing. Groups in Wales were hit hard by budget cuts last year too, with the burden falling disproportionately on companies serving youth and specific geographic areas. The Netherlands’ decision to slash its cultural budget by 25% last year had previously been reported on Createquity, but I was surprised to learn via the New York Times that Portugal has completely dropped its Ministry of Culture. The same article names Italy, Greece (not surprisingly), Hungary, Spain, and Ireland as other countries that have recently ripped their culture budgets a new one.

All of this is leading to some potentially nightmarish unintended consequences for U.S. arts organizations. Because European governments are so much more active in cultural life than that of the United States, arts institutions in those countries have never had the need or the desire to build up a strong base of private contributions. So now that new funds are needed, rather than start down the long path of cultivating that presently nonexistent generosity, organizations are looking for a quicker fix: American donors.

Europe isn’t the only one feeling the pinch; Ontario, in Canada, is too. But one government arts agency that’s doing well is Brazil’s SESC, which is financed by a unique model involving a 1.5% payroll tax that has helped the entity’s budget double approximately every six years. SESC’s budget is $600 million, rivaling some of the wealthiest European nations, but its broad mandate includes recreational activities and even health clinics in addition to arts organizations.

Technology Programs Specialist, Fractured Atlas

Fractured Atlas is seeking a Program Specialist, Technology Programs for a newly-created position. The Program Specialist provides high-level customer service and directly assists in project management of all technology program related services. The Program Specialist reports to the Project Manager, Technology Programs.

Deadline: August 29, 2011.

Website and New Media Manager, Americans for the Arts

Americans for the Arts Marketing, Communications, and Technology team is on the cusp of reinventing all of its organizations online services. We envision the redesign of our entire website offerings that will utilize Web 2.0 concepts and innovative technologies as well as full integration of a new organizational database (CRM) and an overhaul of our e-commerce solutions. Our goal is to bring arts professionals and supporters together through innovative services, shared resources and inspiration, and strategies to improve their own lives and work through the arts. We are looking for a Website and New Media Manager to take a leadership role in this exciting new venture.

Deadline has passed, but I’m told new applications are still welcome.

Research Director, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is recruiting a Research Director to manage the acquisition and analysis of information for and about the nation’s state arts agencies. This is an applied research position responsible for:

• Maintaining timely, relevant and accurate data (both quantitative and qualitative) on key topics such as state arts agency funding trends, grant making, programming, policies, structure, staffing and compensation.
• Overseeing NASAA’s research practices, including survey design, information recruitment, data validation, analysis methods, and reporting.
• Responding to information inquiries and communicating research results to multiple audiences.
• Managing large databases, including related taxonomies and technologies.
• Implementing contracts, budgets and special projects.
• Supervising employees (two associates plus occasional contractors) and leading teams.

NOTES: Additional Salary Information: $75-$85,000 DOE. Paid benefits available.

Deadline: August 31, 2011.

The full press release, from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies‘s CEO Jonathan Katz, is below the fold.

Update: via Grantmakers in the Arts, here’s a news article from the Topeka Capital-Journal. While the news is upsetting, it is very good to see the arts commission referred to as “politically popular” in a state like Kansas. That’s a testament to the efforts of the Kansas Citizens for the Arts and the arts community in Kansas more generally over the past several months.

Update II: Bob Lynch from Americans for the Arts weighs in. His statement emphasizes that Brownback’s veto does not save Kansas any money, but instead makes it poorer – not just through theoretical notions of economic impact, but quite literally because gutting the Arts Commission means throwing away$1.2 million in matching funds from both the NEA and the Mid-America Arts Alliance.

A False Economy: Arts Vetoed in Kansas

Today more than ever, states that want to be competitive need a policy agenda that supports and nurtures the creativity and economic productivity of their citizens. With his veto of funding for the Kansas Arts Commission, Governor Sam Brownback has now declared his opinion that Kansas is too poor for that. The real poverty expressed in this action is not of the pocketbook; state arts agencies yield excellent return on investment in jobs and tax revenues.

Proponents of government efficiency should be deeply disturbed by Governor Brownback’s decision. Elected officials are obligated to ask, “What are the citizens of my state getting in return for this investment of public dollars?” The answer in Kansas is “Plenty.” The Kansas Arts Commission:

• fostered an arts and cultural sector supporting more than 4,000 jobs and generating more than $15 million annually in state and local government revenues;
• brought home $5.9 million in federal dollars to support arts activities for all Kansans over the past 10 years;
• engaged 300,000 students in arts education programs in and out of school last year;
• provided important social and creative outlets for seniors, persons with disabilities, children and underserved populations.

A $689,000 appropriation to the Kansas Arts Commission would have comprised 0.005% of the total state budget, one half of 1/100 of one percent. Governor Brownback’s veto won’t make even a modest dent in the state’s budget gap. It will, however, diminish the state’s ability to leverage public and private investment, compete in the creative sector, improve education, and make Kansas a more rewarding place to live, work, visit and raise a family.

Rather than achieving any savings, this veto creates a net loss. Without the Kansas Arts Commission, the state’s eligibility to secure its designated share of National Endowment for the Arts funds is in jeopardy. Those dollars can be allocated elsewhere, leaving Kansas taxpayers to pay for the arts in other states. Also lost through this veto is the state’s power to leverage private and public investment. Last year the Kansas Arts Commission awarded $1.4 million in grants, which was matched by $60.7 million in local and private dollars.

Kansas taxpayers want the kinds of communities that the arts create. Thoughtful decision makers see the arts as creative skills, as jobs, as industries—not as a frill. This is why Kansas citizens spoke out against the governor’s initial attempts to dismantle the Kansas Arts Commission, and why the legislature recommended funding for the agency. The veto of the entire Kansas Arts Commission budget was selective in its focus and extreme in its magnitude. Other states—wisely—are maintaining a public investment in the arts. The Kansas Arts Commission’s 45-year legacy of service to families and communities—a legacy which received support from Republican and Democratic governors alike—may now be denied to future generations.

The citizens of Kansas deserve better.

Jonathan Katz
Chief Executive Officer
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

• Andrew Taylor reports disturbing news for the Wisconsin Arts Board. It now looks like their best case scenario is likely a 66% cut, way out of proportion to what other agencies are looking at.
• Meanwhile, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies has updated its report on state agencies facing elimination or restructuring proposals, and the list has, unfortunately, grown since February.
  • Arizona’s governor Jan Brewer succeeded in eliminating general fund appropriations to the Arizona Commission on the Arts. The Arizona Arts Trust Fund (a vehicle for funding the arts through business tax filings) was reduced by 8%.
  • It looks like the Georgia Council on the Arts will see its funding cut nearly 30%, after suffering reductions last year as well.
  • Kansas is still not out of the woods. Although the legislature overrode the Governor’s executive order eliminating the Kansas Arts Commission, the Governor (who hasn’t signed the budget yet) still has line-item veto power over the arts council’s appropriation. Meanwhile, layoff notices have been issued to the Arts Commission’s staff by the Department of Administration, which reports to the Governor.
  • Two years after facing potential elimination, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is under fire again – the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment which would cut the PCA’s appropriation by 68%.
  • While so far South Carolina’s legislature has not gone along with Governor Nikki Haley’s multiple entreaties to eliminate funding for the South Carolina Arts Commission, the budget isn’t signed yet.
  • Looks like the Texas Commission on the Arts is going to squeak through with a 50% reduction to its funds.
• NASAA also published a more general update on state arts agency appropriations for FY12. 61% of member agencies are looking at cuts, with only West Virginia and Hawaii potentially seeing significant increases. Notably, however, 86% of states are facing budget gaps, and 79% of governors proposed major reductions in core public services. (I’m not sure how they got 79% with 50 states, but whatever.)
• This hasn’t had any budget implications so far, but apparently the existence of the New Jersey Council on the Arts is pissing off that state’s Lieutenant Governor. (PS – the comments on that story are pretty priceless.)
• Interesting drama playing out in San Diego, where Mayor Jerry Sanders is preserving funding for the city’s Office of Arts and Culture at the expense of (among other things) libraries, recreation centers, and public art projects. Notably, San Diego is the site for this year’s Americans for the Arts Annual Convention.
• Sigh…
  

  A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday grilled the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts over grants to San Francisco mimes and an international accordion festival.

  “Those just kind of grants lend themselves to ridicule,” said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “These are a bit tough to justify … how can we justify these types of grants?”

Well, it looks like we have before us a case of “ask and ye shall receive.” Five days after my original post, NASAA uploaded this very helpful roundup of major state arts agency budget and restructuring proposals to its website. Not surprisingly, they have better information than I did: in addition to Kansas, Arizona, Texas, Washington, and South Carolina, several other states are facing significant restructuring proposals and/or reductions including Connecticut and Georgia (again). Also, in Texas, apparently the Governor’s budget includes money for the state arts council even though he proposed eliminating it in his State of the State address, so things aren’t quite so dire as might have seemed from news reports.

And now we hear this from the State Arts Action Network, an affiliate of Americans for the Arts:

[A brand new area of our website,] the state arts appropriations update section, officially launching tomorrow (February 24), features a clickable map that will take visitors directly to individual state pages featuring the most recent and proposed budgetary numbers for the arts. In addition, each state page will feature links to your SAAN organization(s), the state arts agency, and to either individual state action alert pages or the Americans for the Arts advocacy alert page.

This project is a high-priority one for Americans for the Arts and we are constantly updating the pages, so if you don’t see the information you are looking for just yet, check back in a day or two and you’ll have plenty of information to take in.

We hope that you find these new tools useful as you continue to advocate on the ground for state budget allocations throughout the country.

The page looks good, and if you click on the page for Kansas, for example, you can see that a House committee voted to override Governor Brownback’s executive order to eliminate the state arts council last week. Not the final word, of course, but at least there’s evidence for legislators fighting back. My only request would be for a news feed on the general, 50-state page that automatically updates with the latest changes to the state pages, so that I don’t have to hunt and peck to keep on top of things. But it’s a great start.

While we’re on the subject of arts advocacy for the 21st century, the general point I was making in calling for these integrated, big-picture resources was that we should be moving in the direction of fostering a sense of shared responsibility among arts advocates in every state for what happens to the arts in every other state. Along those lines, I just loved this note that I got last week from Lisa Carnevale, executive director of Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts. Lisa writes:

Friends:

In the midst of this national fight against severe cuts and possible elimination of funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, we need to you contact your national networks!

As you have heard, Congress is poised to make significant cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts’ budget (as well as National Endowment for the Humanities and a zero out of Corporation for Public Broadcasting (NPR/PBS) funding).  Yesterday, we heard two members of Congress have introduced amendments that would further cut, or terminate, funding to National Endowment for the Arts for the remainder of FY11.

While normally we would urge you to follow the links to send a letter to Congress, here in Rhode Island, our Congressional delegation already “get it”.  Our most effective call to action would be to help further support our delegation when they stand against these cuts. Let’s reach out through our networks to put pressure on other members of Congress to ensure they stand against this as well!

Forward this email to your friends nationwide and ask them to send a letter or call their Congressional delegation!

You see what she does? She knows that Rhode Island’s two Representatives are already in the tank for arts funding. She could have declined to send any advocacy note at all, or just mechanically passed along the call to action to contact one’s own reps even though it wouldn’t have made any difference. Either choice would have been a total waste of Rhode Island’s advocacy network. Instead, she puts it to use by asking members to notify people in other states about the situation so that they can take action there. Any folks reached by this campaign who might not be already plugged in to their own state or national arts advocacy networks represent a win for arts advocacy. Well played, indeed.

Research Manager, Center for Effective Philanthropy

CEP is currently seeking an experienced and dynamic Research Manager to lead and support multiple quantitative research projects. With responsibility for designing, executing, analyzing and writing research projects, the Research Manager will manage complex projects designed to provide information related to the performance assessment of philanthropic foundations. Additionally, the Manager will collect and interpret large sets of data using a variety of analytical and statistical methodologies. This position will be responsible for providing guidance to junior research staff in research methodology and analysis as well as reviewing findings and presenting results for both internal and external constituencies. Reporting to the Vice President – Research, the Manager will be a senior member of the research team and will work collaboratively within and across departments.

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Manage or support all aspects of quantitative research projects related to the performance assessment of philanthropic foundations, including the conceptualization, design, analyses and presentation of results
• Design survey instruments and research questions, as well as conduct interviews to collect research data
• Plan, conduct and interpret the analyses of large-scale (100-1,000+ sample) datasets using a variety of methods, such as t-test, chi-square, analysis of variance and linear regression
• Review findings and author reports in partnership with the Vice President of Research. Contribute to strategic decisions related to the framing of reports
• Ensure that research projects meet department and organizational standards, and are completed in a timely manner
• Provide coaching, mentoring and training to junior staff on all aspects of the research process. Contribute to the continued learning of the research team
• Present research internally and externally, including representing CEP at local and national speaking engagements and conferences

Qualifications/Requirements:

• At least two years of research experience in roles demanding exceptional analytical skills
• Demonstrated experience with quantitative methodologies, including t-test, chi-square, analysis or variance and linear regression. Knowledge of advanced statistical methods preferred
• Demonstrated experience developing surveys and interview protocols
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to work collaboratively in teams and manage multiple projects with complex deliverables in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent attention to detail and organization skills, with a focus on accuracy
• Aptitude for learning new methods of analysis and data-analysis programs
• Experience mentoring or teaching research and data analysis skills
• Belief and interest in the work of the nonprofit sector and the effectiveness of foundation philanthropy

• Advanced degree in related field (e.g. economics, education, sociology, political science, psychology, sociology). Doctorate preferred

CEP is based in Cambridge Massachusetts, with a second office in San Francisco, California. This position is located in CEP’s office of about 25 staff in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

To Apply:

Please upload a resume and thoughtful cover letter, outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position and stating how you heard about this opportunity, in Word format and addressed to Ellie Buteau, at http://jobs.cgcareers.org/application.aspx?id=1741. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Note: CEP is also hiring a Research Analyst and Director of Communications at the same link. It’s a fantastic organization.

State Programs Associate, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
(note: this job has a deadline of yesterday, but it’s still up on their website – might still be worth a shot if you have your materials ready to go.)

NASAA is recruiting a state programs associate to document the variety of strategies that state arts agencies use to advance the arts and to serve the public and state government. The individual in this position:

• researches state arts agency programs, policies, services and special initiatives;
• analyzes information to identify trends and exemplary practices; and
• communicates information to multiple audiences.

Responsibilities include:

• Conducting qualitative research (including interviews, document analysis, literature reviews and mining website and newsletter resources)
• Cataloging state arts agency grant guidelines into a national database
• Writing articles and reports
• Answering information requests
• Maintaining website resources on key issue areas
• Creating tables, charts and graphics
• Securing and organizing important documents (such as advocacy tools, impact reports and strategic plans)
• Assisting with projects that facilitate member dialogue and information exchange

This position requires both research and communications expertise. Qualifications include:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree
• At least one year of full-time work experience
• Qualitative research and analysis experience
• Superior writing and verbal communications skills
• Ability to distill complex material
• Keen attention to detail and accuracy
• A commitment to public-sector service
• Fluency with MS Word and Excel are required. Experience with MS Access and Adobe products is desirable.

This is an excellent early career opportunity for candidates interested in research, philanthropy, government or policy analysis as well as the arts or humanities. Experience with associations, government, journalism, legislative research or grant seeking is a plus.

This is a full-time position, including benefits. NASAA’s offices are located in downtown Washington, near Metro. Apply by February 14, 2011. Send a letter of interest, a resume and a writing sample to nasaa@nasaa-arts.org with “SPA Search” as the subject line. Please state in your letter where you found this job posting (name of website or job board). No faxes or phone calls, please. EOE.

NASAA is also looking for interns.

Director of GrantCraft, Foundation Center (NY Office)

Summary

The Foundation Center, the nation’s leading authority on philanthropy, seeks a dynamic, entrepreneurial and creative individual to direct the Center’s efforts to empower philanthropic foundations with the knowledge tools they need to be more strategic. First and foremost among these is GrantCraft—a project of the Foundation Center and its partner the European Foundation Centre (EFC)—designed to provide “practical wisdom for grantmakers”.

Reporting to the President, and working closely with the Foundation Center’s senior management team and our partners at the EFC, she/he will inspire, motivate, and lead a small but high-performing team overseeing the execution of the plan for GrantCraft: oversight of the GrantCraft web site, creation of various training guides and other assets of GrantCraft, and new and ongoing product development and other content creation for GrantCraft. In addition, the Director will work with foundations, donor coalitions and foundation affinity groups to help meet their needs for custom knowledge services that facilitate cooperation and working at scale on important social, environmental and economic issues.

The Director will participate in overall Center planning activities and interface with other departments on a regular basis and will be a member of the Center’s senior staff and may take on other responsibilities as needed. Of particular importance will be understanding other Center products and services created for grantmakers and maximizing the synergy between GrantCraft and those areas of the Center. The Director will also work closely with the Development department on fund raising and grants administration for GrantCraft and other knowledge services efforts.

This is a very public facing role and requires consummate customer relations skills.

Key Responsibilities

The Director of GrantCraft will have ongoing responsibility for the following:

• Execution of the overall vision and strategy for GrantCraft
• Work with our European Foundation Centre partner to develop and maintain specific operating plans with specific milestones, goals, objectives and resource commitments
• Work with organizations in other regions of the world interested in translating/adapting existing GrantCraft content and/or producing new, culturally-relevant material
• Oversee the main GrantCraft website working with Center web services team
• Oversee GrantCraft products and services, content creation and production, working with Center design staff and other outside consultants
• Work with the Educational Services department to offer webinars and train the trainer events around GrantCraft materials related to core competencies of the Foundation Center
• Work with Regional Associations of Grantmakers and other philanthropy-support groups to produce guides and other content appropriate to the training needs of their constituents
• Attend conferences and exhibitions to promote GrantCraft where deemed necessary
• Work with the Center’s Marketing and Communications department to promote the GrantCraft brand via social media and other means to expand the user base
• Manage all data licensing and other intellectual property considerations for GrantCraft working with other Center staff and Center attorneys
• Work closely with foundations around the globe to understand their knowledge management needs as they move to collaborate with other foundations, governments and the private sector
• Working closely with the Foundation Center’s Business Development Unit, design custom web portals, data visualization tools and other services designed to meet foundation knowledge needs.

Ideal Experience

The Director of GrantCraft should have the following experience and qualifications:

• Eight to ten years experience working in philanthropy as a grantmaker and in donor collaboratives
• Demonstrated success working in a collaborative fashion across organizations
• Extensive knowledge of the grantmaking communities, and knowledge of current trends in fundraising, philanthropy, nonprofit management, and knowledge management
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate and build relationships with partner organizations; success in attracting financial resources for various endeavors; the credibility and experience to connect an organization like the Foundation Center to resources and opportunities
• A record of success in working with teams of diverse, strong, creative people to achieve common goals; ability to work effectively with staff in other departments and with peers in other organizations
• Excellent writing, analytical and verbal presentation skills; skill in handling multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously; ability to plan, organize, budget, and follow through with senior management.

Personal Characteristics

Ideally the individual should be:

• Committed to and passionate about the Foundation Center’s and GrantCraft’s mission and purpose
• Excited about the power of data, research, knowledge and web-based technologies to transform the practice of philanthropy
• Able to manage effectively in a fast paced environment, be extremely well organized, clear thinking, and decisive
• A doer, with strong leadership and management ability; one who understands the subtleties of working with, as well as motivating and directing, a diverse group of personalities and cultural backgrounds; a skilled listener, able to consider multiple points of view
• A builder of relationships, who is engaging and persuasive; a skilled networker, who can enthusiastically represent the Center to important constituencies
• Capable of fostering a team-based work environment that models core values of respect and appreciation of diversity
• Experience living and working outside of the United States strongly preferred; fluency in languages other than English preferred
• Willing to travel on a regular basis, as needed, including internationally.

Background on the Foundation Center

Founded in the mid-1950s, in the midst of McCarthyism, the Foundation Center opened its doors to the public with seven thousand records on American foundations stored in file cabinets. Since that time its product line has evolved from print resources to CD-ROMs to a database containing some 2.3 million grants and over 100,000 U.S. grantmakers. Its website receives over 50,000 visits daily. The Foundation Center’s most popular searchable database Foundation Directory Online currently has over 11,300 paid subscribers and is used by thousands of individuals each year free of charge at the Center’s five locations and at its 450 funding information centers (public libraries, community foundations, and community colleges) spread across the U.S., Mexico, and, most recently, Korea, Nigeria, Brazil, Australia and China. A newly developed companion mapping tool,Philanthropy In/Sight, contains not only this data but a growing body of foundation and grants data from around the world. This global data platform for philanthropy will soon be available for free at these 450 sites, as well.

Beyond these services, the Foundation Center also conducts robust research studies annually, both original and commissioned, on foundation funding trends, and operates an online news service dedicated to philanthropy http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/, a highly blog a highly bloghttp://pndblog.typepad.com/pndblog/, and a searchable online database of more than 5,000 publications supported by foundation grantshttp://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/pubhub/. More recently the Center has launched a web site devoted to foundation transparency, http://glasspockets.org and a website targeted to grantseekers, www.grantspace.org.

Under new leadership since late 2008, the Center has begun a new and innovative chapter in its history and has issued a strategic plan for its future. This plan has as one of its central tenets an effort to build tools for donors of all kinds, both locally and globally, in order to increase understanding of the impact of philanthropy, facilitate collaboration among donors, and gather more and better knowledge about global philanthropy. One important piece of the plan is the recent acquisition of GrantCraft, formerly a project of the Ford Foundation, by the Center in partnership with the European Foundation Center. During 2011, the Center will be integrating this project into its suite of products and is searching for a Director to lead this effort.

About GrantCraft

GrantCraft was originally created in 2001 as a project of The Ford Foundation. The goal was to increase the collective knowledge of the field and improve the practice of philanthropy by gathering and sharing thoughtful information about the craft of grantmaking.

GrantCraft’s signature approach has been to tap the “practical wisdom” of experienced grantmakers from a diverse group of foundations. Since its inception GrantCraft has grown to become a valued resource for learning and sharing grantmaking strategies in the U.S. and in other countries. GrantCraft has produced more than 30 guides, myriad online surveys and other reports, and brought that content to life through workshops and original teaching material and case studies. Its highly popular web site provides free access to these guides in downloadable versions and also sells hard copies of the same material in an online store.

Other

The Center offers a competitive salary and an excellent benefits package. The Center is an equal opportunity employer.

Additional Information

A parallel position is currently available at the European Foundation Centre, in Brussels, Belgium, the Foundation Center’s partner in GrantCraft. The position description for this position can be found at http://www.efc.be/AboutEFC/Pages/StaffPosition.aspx.

To Apply

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to:

Dee Dee Dickey
Director of Human Resources
The Foundation Center
79 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10003

E-mail: jobs@foundationcenter.org (Please put the title of the position you are applying for in the subject line.)

For more information on positions available at the Foundation Center please visit our website:http://foundationcenter.org/about/jobs/

See a related story about GrantCraft here.