Make artWORK: Leadership and People Management

By Shawn René Graham

Whether you are consciously aware of it or not, on some level, you are continually leading yourself and others – you don’t necessarily have to have a large team reporting to you to be considered a leader or to need effective leadership skills.  Once you have taken on that leadership role, you should also assess your effectiveness throughout the year.

Here is an exercise you can use often:

·      Think about what you actually do on a daily basis.  Draw generalizations about how you spend your leadership time.  Complete the Leadership Behavior Chart below.

·      The central question is this: Is your leadership behavior out of sync with the way that you feel an effective leader should be spending his or her energy?

Think about your daily interaction with the people you lead.   Generally speaking, determine the actual behaviors that define that interaction.   Using the list of behaviors below, determine the amount of time (in percentages) that you generally spend on each behavior.  Then in the second column, determine what you feel would be ideal distribution of time (in percentages).

Behavior	Percentage of time spent on each behavior	Ideally the percentage of time you would devote to each behavior
Informing
Directing
Clarifying or Justifying
Persuading
Collaborating
Brainstorming or Envisioning
Reflecting (Quiet Time for Thinking)
Observing
Disciplining
Resolving interpersonal conflicts
Praising and/or encouraging

Don’t know how to get to your ideal percentage times for each behavior?  Here are some key buckets and strategies that you can employ that can move you even closer to your ideal distribution of behavior?

1. Business Management
Managing a business effectively is the key to the establishment and growth of the business. The key to successful management is to examine the marketplace environment. Despite the importance of management, this area is often misunderstood and poorly implemented, primarily because people focus on the output rather than the process of management. Planning is essential for developing a firm’s potential. However, many small businesses do not recognize the need for long-range plans, because the small number of people involved in operating the business implies equal responsibility in the planning and decision-making processes. Nevertheless, the need for planning is as important in a small business as it is in a large one.
2. Setting Duties Tasks and Responsibilities
An organization is characterized by the nature and determination of employees’ duties, tasks and responsibilities. While many organizations use different methods for determining these it is essential that they be clearly defined.
3. Controlling Conflict
Another key to successful management lies in controlling conflict. Conflict cannot be eliminated from either the business or the interpersonal activities of the enterprise. A measure of the organization’s success is the degree to which conflict can be exposed and the energies associated with it channeled to develop your organization.
4. Organization Structure
The essence of a successful organization can be more simply summarized than implemented and the effectiveness of a particular organizational form depends on a variety of internal and external events. To get the best results you must have an idea about various aspects of the market such as activities and number of competitors. Even though you may discover that certain events are affecting your business be careful not to change the organizational structure of your firm without discussing it with your team. Because restructuring involves spending a lot of time learning new rules, implementing a new organizational structure is costly.
5. Delegation of Authority
Delegation is a key to the effective exercise of authority in your business. By delegating limited authority to accomplish specific tasks the talents of employees in the organization can be used to upgrade the skills and experience of the manager. You must coordinate and control work of your collaborators effectively. To effectively delegate responsibility and authority in your organization you must know the capabilities of each person you are working with. Ensure that specific training and information is available and provide periodic monitoring and interest which should be praised and criticized as per performance. The skills and abilities of each level of authority can be increased by effectively delegating authority throughout any organization.

Make artWORK: OMG!! Tax Time

If you are feeling anxious about taxes, The Field understands.  Below are some tips on taxes from February 2014’s Field Tip.  These monthly writings are chalk full of advice on various topics related to artist’s lives.  Generally, you do have to be a Member of The Field to have access, but we thought this one should be for everybody.  Happy 2015 Tax Season!

The Field Tip

February 2014

OMG!! TAX TIME

By Shawn René Graham

While it is nice to enjoy the freedom of being a self-employed artist, we must also be diligent about keeping our paperwork in order and paying our taxes on time.  By April 15^th of every year, taxes must be prepared and paid and, like you, I feel a slight amount of unease at this time of year.  Like most artists, I receive a lot of income as an independent contractor and that means taxes have not been deducted from the money I received.  I find myself sitting amongst a pile of 1099-Misc forms by mid-February. On top of that, I have other expenses related to the services I provided and must make sure I have valid paperwork to verify that these expenses are related to my business.  So what are our tax obligations when it comes to being self-employed?  Here’s what you need to know:

Generally, you are self-employed if any of the following apply to you. 

·         You carry on a business as a sole proprietor or an independent contractor.

·         You are a member of a partnership or collective that carries on a business.

·         You are otherwise in business for yourself, including a part-time business.

As a self-employed individual, pay your estimated self -employment tax quarterly.

·         Self-employed individuals generally must pay self-employment tax (SE tax) as well as income tax. SE tax is a Social Security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld if you are an employee of a company or organizations. If you hear the words "self-employment tax" is used, it only refers to Social Security and Medicare taxes and not income tax.  You can find information on how to pay these taxes here.

You must also file an annual tax return with the IRS.

·         Because we must also pay income taxes, you will need to file an annual return.  Your annual return is where you deduct your expenses.  In addition to a 1040 Form, you will also need to use Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ to report your income or loss from a business you operated or a profession you practiced as a sole proprietor. Click here to find out more.

So who can do all of this paperwork?  You guessed it!  You can prepare all of these forms yourself.  All of the forms can be found at www.irs.gov.  If you feel that you really need a tax professional, get one.  In some cases the expense of hiring a tax accountant is well worth it.  Just know that this will still require some work on your end.  You need to make sure that general accounting books, expense receipts and 1099-Misc forms are all in good order before handing them over to someone.  And well, it’s February, so if you have not put all of this paperwork in one safe place, now is the time to get organized.  April 15^th is just around the corner!

Make artWORK: How to Survive in NYC as an Artist

By Liza Green and Claire Baum

This November we were invited to do a life and career guidance seminar for Barnard College dance students as part of the Dancer Empowerment Project. Our task was to take the (slightly daunting) topic of “How to Survive in NYC as an Artist” and make it manageable for these soon-to-be college graduates to have a career in the arts. The ninety-minute workshop aimed  to provide these young artists with useful tools, skills, and resources to help them jumpstart their careers. Hosted by Gibney Dance, we opened the workshop to the public and ended up with a fierce group of early to mid-career dance and theatre makers.

We broke down this large question of “How to Survive in NYC as an Artist,” into four main categories:

1. Finance;
2. Relationships;
3. Marketing and;
4. Enrichment/Training.

Because of the impending Thanksgiving holiday, we naturally asked them to draw a hand turkey, like the ones we made in grade school, on a piece of construction paper. The “feathers” on the turkey provided space for the four points of our lives as art makers We asked them to dress up their turkeys however they liked, beaks, tap shoes, etc. and to put their name and their artistic discipline/role in the center. For example, the center of Claire’s turkey read “Claire Baum, Dancer, Choreographer.”

Below is a condensed version of the topics we covered on our turkeys, complete with helpful tips and links to even more resources.

FEATHER 1: FINANCE

Finance can simply be broken down into earning and spending. Artists typically earn their income in three different ways: earning money from their art, having a flexible day/night job (i.e. babysitting, bartending, temping, etc), or by having what we’ve coined a “co-career,” meaning a job that is not exactly your art, but feeds your artistic practice (i.e. teaching artist, arts management, graphic design, etc.). When assessing how you are going to earn your living, here are a few key points to think about:

• Weigh your values with your needs. How much will you need to earn to not only meet your basic living expenses (rent, food, transportation, etc.), but to also address expenses linked to your values (eating out with friends, taking classes, seeing shows, etc).
• Earning money from your art is possible. Samples of this income might include: artist stipends, rehearsal pay and/or performer stipends. In addition, you may want to find a fiscal sponsor (like The Field) so that you can apply for grants, create crowdfunding campaigns, and write appeal letters asking others to help fund your creative work.

The flipside of earning is spending. Spending is easy for many people, but managing the spending is harder. Here are a some helpful tips:

• Create a spending diary to help manage your spending. Over the course of the month write down every item you spend money on. Label expenses “personal” or “professional.”  
• Use your spending diary to assess your spending habits so that you can adjust accordingly to meet your goals.
• Continue tracking your spending with a budgeting app like Mint or Budgt.
• If you have expenses that are falling in the “professional” column and you are producing your own work, open a new account to keep your art and personal expenses separate. Budgeting for your projects is similar to budgeting for your life.
• Click here for tips on project budgeting and a sample budget form.

FEATHER 2: RELATIONSHIPS

Building solid relationships is crucial for artists. Not only do relationships help you create balance and personal fulfillment, but your friends, family, and colleagues often become your first audience members and donors. Here are some tips on how to cultivate relationships:

• Make a list of who you want to work with/what organizations you want to work for or get involved with (i.e. volunteering at a benefit, ushering for a show, or doing workstudy in exchange for classes, etc.)

• If there is a person you want to get to know, or a position you want to know more about, we recommend asking that person for either an informational interview or just for cup of coffee. Be attentive, ready to listen, and able to about talk yourself in a clear succinct way (click here for more resources on how to talk about your work).
• Thank yous, updates,and reminders can also be a great way to stay on peoples’ radar. Sending a reminder the day before your meeting tells the person you are on top of your game and sending a simple thank you note or email after a meeting keeps you in that person's thoughts longer. And be sure to add personal notes to your follow-up correspondence (a handwritten note can go a long way these days).
• It is also really great to able to talk about something other than your field. It could be that you and the person you are having coffee with have more in common than just your art, and those connections go a long way both professionally and personally.
• Click here for some more tips on networking.

FEATHER 3: MARKETING

Being an artist means putting yourself in the public sphere and marketing yourself as well as the work you create. Creating a brand this way can be tricky. In the age of social media, we recommend being careful with what you broadcast on Facebook and other media. Here are some key ways to make your marketing materials work for you:

• Start by creating a website. A few very easy to use website builders are Wix, Wordpress, and Squarespace. Be sure to buy your domain name. We also recommend buying your own name as a domain name as well, even if you are not going to use it.
• Create a strong social media presence. If you don’t want your personal facebook and professional facebook getting mixed up, you can create a page for your art, or even create a whole separate account. If you start Twitter and Instagram accounts, be sure to stay active. Using a platform like Hootsuite can help you schedule all of your social media posts.
• Thinking of starting a blog? The key to keeping a blog is keeping it up. Create a schedule and stick to it (i.e. post once a month, once a week, etc.)
• Use a cost effective service like Vistaprint or find a local printer for business cards and postcards.
• Work samples are also incredibly important for grant or showcase applications and your web presence. Photo and video work can quickly and succinctly tell your viewer what your work is about. We recognize that producing this type of media can get expensive so we recommend using skill trading sites to help produce high quality work samples while keeping costs down (try Our Goods or The Artsy Yenta).
• Click here for even more marketing guidance.

FEATHER 4: ENRICHMENT and TRAINING

Building a balanced life between your artist self and personal self is what enrichment and training is about. What it really comes down to is an assessment of your values, and how these play out in each aspect of your personal and professional life. Some ways that you work towards balance may include:

• Continuing to take classes attend festivals, and workshops for your field. See shows, performances, and visit museums and galleries. Consider seeing work that is outside your field for inspiration.
• Take care of your body. It is your instrument. This care could include cross training, cycling, running, yoga, pilates or massage. And don’t forget about health insurance. We suggest looking at Healthcare.gov, Oscar insurance, and The Freelancers Union to get a plan or shop for a better one.
• If community engagement or spirituality is important to you, allow for time in your schedule to participate.

GOAL SETTING

Once our turkey feathers were filled in, we asked these brave artists to set a three-year goal and a one-to-three month goal for the feather they felt was most challenging. The participants collaborated in pairs to come up with 3 realistic action steps for each one of their goals. You can do this for each of the 4 points we have covered in this blog. If keeping your turkey with your action steps on your fridge is a good reminder for you, then do it! If you’re more technically minded, make a spreadsheet that you can look at and update to check in on your goals and action steps. Ask a friend or collaborator to help you create action steps for your goals. They may have ideas you never would have thought of and bringing them into your goal-setting process will keep you on task. And finally, remember to make this kind of dreaming and planning fun!

Thanks to all of the artists who participated in the workshop. And best of luck with those action steps.

Eating the Big Apple: Self Producing Work In NYC, By Emilyn Kowaleski

This piece is late, unforgivably overdue. What excuse can I give? My computer dropped onto the subway tracks? A piece of scenery dropped on my head? I was consumed in tunnel vision, tackling a recent production of my work? Or most honestly, I am a young artist, mastered in over-commitment, but admittedly, not yet mastered in time management. “There is never enough time!” I cry, shaking my fists melodramatically to the ceiling. I was underwater trying to solve the myriad of artistic challenges in front of me and the financial and logistical ones that accompanied them. However, the unforgivable irony of the matter is that The Field is a buoy that I've found and clung to for support in those arenas after I dropped myself into what felt like the ocean-like task of making and self-producing my own work in New York City.

I graduated from liberal arts school in New York, a few years ago, from a program I loved that taught me many things about making theater and that whole-heartedly encouraged me to go out and start creating work. But what I discovered when I graduated was that; I didn’t really know how to do that on a practical level. Outside of college, rehearsal space didn’t exist for sign up on the third floor in front of the production offices.  I didn’t get to attend a class anymore where people were forced to sit and look critically at my work. I didn’t know proper grant writing language, or how to get a residency, or really how to convince anyone that I, a bright ideaed, starry eyed, post-graduate deserved time, money and resources to create that work, especially when I am one of thousands. I had no track record in the big bad apple, so I just started biting in wherever I could.

            Two years past graduation, in hungry searching of finding the existing remnants of my cushy college life, and building patterned practices of producing work, I found The Field. There, behold: cheap rehearsal space to be connected with, fundraising workshops, and people to meet with every week who would watch and respond to my work. I started with the later. I signed up for Fieldwork, where I could again, play, try, fail and build in front of an audience who would tell me what they were seeing. I had just begun the first stage of development on a piece called Root of the Rosebush that is based on a series of interviews I had conducted with people about their history with relationships from first crush to present day. I didn’t know what that piece would be, or how to construct it really. I just wanted a place to experiment and a chance to know how my words and images were affecting others; I found that in Fieldwork.

 Six months later, after I had built that piece into a first draft and was looking to develop it further, both financially and artistically, I knocked again at the doors of The Field. I signed up for Jumpstart and another session of Fieldwork, back to back.

             For Jumpstart, I was delighted to turn up at American Table, met by the smiling but serious face of Fran Krimser. “Ok,” she said handing us a packet of information on budgets, networking and fundraising that set off palpitations in my idealistic artist heart that was childishly screaming “But why?! I just want to make things!” My adult brain knows, of course, that this is part of that work.  Thankfully, she made it easy. “I’m not going to spend three hours of your time talking at you generally without applying this to your project specifically.” She breezed us through the packets, took us through some exercises and let us practice how to talk about our work.  Then, she sent us on our way with the homework of creating a budget, a project description, and development and potential sponsor lists. A week later, I met with her individually to discuss how best to proceed with my project. She told me how I could make the timeline more manageable, where I could slash the budget and bit, by bit where I could raise the money I need. She articulated the marketable strengths of the work and advised me on an application to present a workshop production at Dixon Place, which, in thanks to her, I ended up receiving.  My heart palpitations have not gone away, still staring at the gigantic apple in front of me, but they have slowed.  It was as if someone had sat down and helped me cut that apple into manageable pieces that I could actually start to chew.

            Fieldwork, on the artistic flipside, operates in much the same way.  Every week, artists meet and present roughly ten minutes of work for feedback. By showing chunks of a larger piece that I was building, I was able to test flavors, and focus on fine-tuning particular moments as I wove them into a whole. Jumpstart was a process of learning how to market my work. It was all about finding the most captivating language with which to articulate what I was doing.  Fieldwork was a process of discovering what about my work itself was intriguing to an audience. Fieldwork is magical.  It a safe space for creative trials, with caring eyes to greet it with observations that fuel the work. It is easy for me to view Fieldwork as a delicious treasure, and Jumpstart as a necessary chore. However, what doing the two programs in tandem taught me, was that this all of it actually feeds same important skill set that is necessary to develop as an artist—Learning how to articulate descriptions of my work and make it in a way that engages people.

To fail and fail big: In Action: F*ck You Money (or how to build a Working Capital Fund)

In mid-May my partner and I adopted a beautiful newborn girl.  We named her Miranda.  I went on maternity leave the day she was born.  I was out for 3 months.  Sort of (e.g., I’m a control freak).

Six weeks of my 3 month maternity leave were paid by The Field.  2 weeks were vacation.  This means that for one month I wasn’t paid.  I have now come back to work ¾ time.  (My partner and I have some personal savings to support one month unpaid.  My partner works in tech and he also got paid parental leave.  We were both able to be with the baby for three months while working very intermittently and remotely.  Amazing.  Unheard of. We are privileged.)

How did The Field pay for my maternity leave?  In 2008, The Field strategically set aside unrestricted surplus money in a Working Capital Fund for “special initiatives, cash flow needs and financial challenges.”  We used it for the first time in 2013 when our first staff member went on maternity leave and we had to move offices.  We used it for the second time for my maternity leave.  Success! The Field has money to support staff leave!

Now how did we save that money in the first place? 1) We committed to saving. Every year, we included an expense line item in our budget for $2-$5k for our Working Capital Fund - right alongside traditional expenses like rent, salaries and paperclips.  And then we fundraised and earned income toward meeting this and all annual expenses.  We were transparent with all of our stakeholders and donors that we were doing this for our resilience, innovation and nimbleness.  No one questioned it. In fact, we were applauded for being “capitalized” unlike many of our peers who were undercapitalized.  2) We committed to ending every year with an unrestricted surplus  that we could then allocate to the Fund.  (How? We grew our earned income and unrestricted individual giving.) 3) We paid strong attention to our expenses.  We probably scrimped at times. (I wouldn’t necessarily do that again.  I would rather push income than scrimp.)

How can you do this in your life? At our “to fail and fail big” APAP session last January one of our guest speakers, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, told us that they always have a small pile of “f*ck you  money” so that their projects are not vulnerable to the vagaries of funders and producers.  You too, dear reader, should have a Working Capital Fund or f*ck you money for cash flow, medical needs, dream projects etc.  Don’t tell me you can’t.  Don’t tell me you are already hand to mouth. I know.  But even you, dear reader, can save a dollar a day.  Yes, you can.

So can a leader of a small non-profit really go on maternity leave?  Yes.

I have three Executive Director friends who are pregnant right now. They are all a bit nervous about maternity leave.   One of them also has a Board of Directors that is anxious about her leave (“what will happen without YOU?”).  The Field Board was incredibly supportive of my adoption plan and I gave them little to no reason to worry about my absence. 

Here’s what I learned on my maternity leave, some failures and some successes. 

1)      Give people an opportunity to lead (and then really let them lead): Instead of hiring an outside interim Executive Director I promoted two senior staff to “Interim Co-Executive Directors”.  They each brought different skills to the table and different energies.  The rest of our small staff and Board trusted them deeply. Success: They did a stellar job.  They became closer as colleagues.  They seemed to feel more empowered and invested in The Field.  Failure: see #3 below. 

2)      Check-in: I did weekly check-ins with my Co-EDs on any major projects or decisions to be made.  Success: They felt supported.  I felt connected and that I wouldn’t come back in 3 months to an unrecognizable situation, project or decision.

3)      I am a control freak:  This has definitely served me at times (i.e., success: I’ve gotten a lot done the way I want it done) but not for the long haul.  Failure: I worked more during my maternity leave than just weekly check-ins. I spent some time on a few grant reports and proposals that I just felt I had to do myself.  It wasn’t terrible for me (and my family) but I am sure it would have been fine if I had NOT worked on them.  Failure: the staff felt a tad confused (who is doing what? when?) and maybe less empowered.

So what’s the end result? I feel valued by an organization and a Board that supports me as a rounded human being with a growing family.  I feel like it’s possible to be an Executive Director and a Mom.  I leave work on time now.  I work 4 days a week.  I don’t work 80 hours a week.  I feel efficient and effective.  So far.  So good.

But I’ve been warned by Mom/artist friends to not talk about my baby.  “No one wants to hear it.  Everyone is working 80 hours a week for too little money. This is what we value.  Not family.”

Bullsh*t. I disagree.  I want it to be different. For me, for The Field, for others.  I’m working in my small ways to make it different.  At The Field at least and by being transparent, vulnerable and active in my work and in posts like these.

My question to you dear reader is: where do you want the arts to be different?  How do you want your life to be different? And what are you doing to make it different?

P.S.  I love the Artists Raising Kids compendium from Headlong!  Check it here http://static.squarespace.com/static/53767189e4b07d0c6bf4b775/t/5388abffe4b02f7f94909052/1401465855677/Artists%20Raising%20Kids%20Compendium.pdf

"to fail and fail big" In Action: Are you afraid of failing?

by Jennifer Wright Cook

Are you afraid of failing?

I am the mid-career, middle-aged leader of a mid-sized, mid-career arts service organization.

I am afraid of failing.

I do many things to protect myself and my organization from failing.

Some of these things are super strategic and 100% in line with how I want to be in the world.

Some of these things are less than 100% in line with how I want to be in the world.  For instance…

I try not to piss of funders.  I hold my tongue.  I go to events when I am too tired but there is someone there I have to schmooze.  I go after grants that aren’t totally appropriate to our mission.  I underbid our work because maybe that will make our bid more competitive.  I squeeze general operating money from every project and every nook and cranny.

Where there is money, there is power.  I am afraid of not having power.  I am afraid of being on the outs.

But I can afford to fail. Here is some full disclosure:

I have a salary and health insurance.  My partner makes more money than I do.  My parents are healthy.  I own my apartment. I have no education debt.  I have no kids.  I will inherit some money.  I have an IRA.

I have financial stability and familial resilience that can protect me from falling off the cliff.  

Still, I am afraid of failing.

Here’s the rub:  I am beginning to think that the ways I protect myself and my organization from failing actually hurt me and us in the long run.

They hurt us because we just keep it all status quo, humming along, everything’s fine and dandy. We aren’t honest about what’s not working.  So no one ever really knows the truth.  We stagnate.

We never really have enough.  Not enough time or money.   Everything is under-resourced.  

We get some things done but never really as bold or big or transformative as we hope.  Good enough, but not HUGE.  Not unbelievably forceful pushy radically HUGE.

The longer I am in this non-profit arts business, the longer that an organization exists, the harder it seems to push against these fears.  Maybe because I/we have more to lose now. Maybe because no one wants to be the one that pulls the plug.

But we all have something to lose, always.  So maybe it’s more about our perspective, or our relationship to losing, or failure, or gain.

What would YOU do if you weren’t afraid of failing? 

What would YOU do if we were unabashedly fearless?

Tell us on FaceBook!

"to fail and fail big" In Action: Let's Get Married!

by Jennifer Wright Cook

Our recent blog posts talked about the Funders’ Edition of “to fail and fail big” that we hosted last fall 2013.  There’s a lot to share about that event; so here’s Part Three.

One of the topics we unpacked at the Funders’ Edition was Project Funding (i.e., money that supports a specific artistic project).

Page 24 of “to fail and fail big” suggests that artists can risk more artistically if funders give them multi-year grants that are artist-specific and not project-specific.  What does that mean?  It means that funders should give gen op grants to specific artists/companies for several committed years. What does “gen op” mean? Gen op grants are ones that can be used to pay for your general operations – essentially everything from artists’ fees to rent to health insurance to design fees to your accountant.  Project grants, typically, can only be used for direct project expenses (artists’ fees, space rental, props, costumes, etc).

Gen op grants are kinda like being in a committed stable relationship.

Project specific grants are kinda like dating.  (Ok, stick with me here.)

In dating there can be these big moments of dinner and dancing and moonlit walks. You are wooing and being wooed! It’s huge and thrilling (or sucky and ego-killing).

But in dating there’s nobody at home to help clean up the cat vomit; no one to hold the chair when you change a light bulb in the ceiling lamp; no one to lie in bed with you and talk about your hopes and fears and kids and dying and politics!

Project grants tend to support the BIG SEXY STUFF (the premiere! the original score! the uber talented actors!).

Gen op grants help support the whole shebang of YOU and your art-making world.   They are an investment in you.

Project grants tend to support the artistic product.

Gen op grants support the artistic process. Like a committed partner, a gen op grant invests in you and your vision, your being.  They are there for you when the going gets rough.

Now, why can multi-year gen op grants help artists risk more, be more resilient, feel more supported and ultimately, maybe, produce “better” work?

You can risk more when you know that someone is in it with you.   
You can risk more when you feel stable. 
You can risk more when you know the rent and health insurance bills can be paid. 
You can grow more when you know that someone trusts you and your process.

So what did the funders at our Funders’ Edition table say about when we asked them if they could get married (i.e., give multi-year gen op grants to artists)?  Not so much.

“We can’t really do that… We can only do one type of grant…..our bylaws, our mission, our Trustees, our processes, etc are strict…..We just can’t.”

Aha?  Change is hard.  The status quo is easy to maintain. Getting married is scary.  Don’t rock the boat.  Just do what you’ve always done.  Then you don’t have to go out on any limb.  You don’t have to risk critique or judgment.  

Aha again!  Funders are people too!  They are just as afraid of failing (or risking) as the rest of us. They have bosses and Boards etc who can fire them or make their lives difficult.  

But some funders push against this fear and push for change in the grant-making system.  At our Funders’ Edition the perspicacious Ben Cameron of Doris Duke Charitable Foundation reminded funders that they can go HYBRID!  They can offer project grants with some gen op money attached!  MAP Fund does this already!  Duke does it too of course.  The Pew in Philly is doing it now it seems!  http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_detail.aspx?id=22

Can more funders do it?  Yes, they can!  Or at least they can assert in their applications and budgets that 15-20% expenses should/can be gen op-related.

Now, of course, sometimes dating is key.  You need to test things out, meet lots of people, see who you are in different scenarios.  You need to learn who you are and what you want and feel confident.

And sometimes getting hitched is key.  But when the world is only dates and no committed relationships it seems really hard to move yourself forward.

So dear reader, our question to you is this: where do you feel like you can grow most? In dating or in a committed relationship?  What’s working for you?
Tell us on Facebook!