General

Building on the findings from the 2014 study, the 2017 study finds that the definition of culture has expanded even further – possibly to the point of extinction. New behaviors are driving digital engagement, loyalty, and giving. And measuring, proving, and articulating social impact has never been more important in the eyes of cultural consumers.

For the first time, the 2017 report will be released in a number of versions: a top-line deck, a top-line report, a supporting data document containing over two hundred graphs, and the raw data tables.

Relationships Matter: Program Officers, Grantees, and the Keys to Success sheds light on what constitutes a strong funder-grantee relationship, what nonprofits say it takes for funders to foster such relationships, and the crucial role that program officers play in the equation.

The report finds that in the eyes of nonprofits, the most powerful ways that funders can strengthen their relationships with grantees are to: 1) focus on understanding grantee organizations and the context in which they work; and 2) be transparent with grantees. Less powerful, but still important to forming strong relationships, are the experiences grantees have during the selection process and how open they find funders to be to their ideas about the foundation’s strategy.

Findings of the study are based on CEP’s analysis of the perspectives of nearly 20,000 grantees of 86 foundations, as well as insights gleaned from interviews with 11 program officers whose grantees provided high ratings about their funder experience through CEP’s Grantee Perception Report (GPR).

The Bottom Line Report examines trends by organizational size, sector, and geography. Following earlier data releases on marketing and fundraising trends, staffing, and expenses, this is the latest edition of NCAR’s reports on the U.S. cultural sector, which provide information that allows arts leaders to benchmark and make evidence-based decisions to overcome challenges and increase their impact.

Arts for Change-projects at the intersection of artistic creation and civic engagement, community development, and justice-often challenge the conventional terms by which the arts are described and assessed.

Report with case studies, by the working group of EU member states’ experts on intercultural dialogue in the context of the migratory and refugee crisis under the open method of coordination.

The percentage of people of color in nonprofit executive director roles has remained under 20% for the past decade. To increase the number of people of color leading nonprofits, the sector needs a new narrative about the problem and new strategies to address it. Nonprofits have to transfer the responsibility for the racial leadership gap from those who are targeted by it (aspiring leaders of color), to those governing organizations.