Audience at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit during a public meeting on the role of women in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
African-American Philanthropy and Museums, Part 1
By Mel and Pearl Shaw
“Self-empowerment is one among many strategies people of African descent have employed to ensure our survival in the New World. This includes the creation of museums and cultural centers that document, recognize and celebrate the art, culture, history and contributions of African-Americans. These institutions, many of which were established as a result of public/private partnerships, bear testimony to the hard battles fought to bring dreams to fruition.”
Arts professional and nonprofit CEO Grace C. Stanislaus is encouraged by the very existence of museums and cultural centers such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the California African American Museum and the DuSable Museum of Art. With 20-plus years directing and building arts institutions, Stanislaus shares her perspective on African-American arts and culture institution.
“I consider the existence of these institutions remarkable especially in light of the history of enslavement, oppression, discrimination and economic, social, cultural and political disenfranchisement,” Stanislaus said. “But not so remarkable in the context of a parallel history, dating back to the 18th century, of civic and charitable giving that supported and in turn generated support from mutual aid societies, the Black Church, and fraternities and sororities.”
She reminds us of the role historically black colleges and universities have played. “HBCUs such as Clark Atlanta, Hampton, Howard, Fisk, North Carolina Central and Tuskegee played significant roles in establishing galleries and museums to house, preserve, interpret, display and celebrate African-American art, artists and cultural achievements.” When asked about the future of these arts institutions Stanislaus recommend an internal examination and a close look at external funding realities.
“We need dynamic visions and robust programs that engage diverse constituencies. Staff and board leaders need to ask questions that can reveal best practices. These include: Are our organizations and programs relevant and of interest to our local communities?
Do we advocate effectively within our communities for the value that we add? Are we building loyalty? Are our program offerings broad in ways that engages diverse, cross-cultural audiences?
Are we allocating sufficient resources to market and promote and to raise funds for our museums and programs?
Are we investing in the professional development of our staff?
Have we found the right balance between our scholarly mission and our commercial interests? Do we have a strategic plan, program plan and business plan that guide our decisions and the allocation of our resources?
Are our mission, values and vision clear and being effectively communicated to our
community/stakeholders?
Do we have a succession plan for the executive and the board leadership? This particular item has derailed the progress forward of many of our cultural organizations.”
African-American Philanthropy and Museums, Part 2
“While our museums face many challenges, there are as many opportunities. Collectively we need to determine what steps we’re prepared to take and how aggressive we’re prepared to be to ensure the current and future relevancy and sustainability of our museums.”
That’s how Grace C. Stanislaus, former executive director of the Museum of the African Diaspora and former president and CEO of the Romare Bearden Foundation, sums up the future of African-American museums and cultural institutions.
Knowing that foundations, corporations and philanthropists often want to see support from those directly impacted before making an investment, we asked Stanislaus if she finds that African-American communities support local and national museums.
“In general, yes. Members of the African-American and the African Diaspora communities have supported and continue to support our museums. The many regional and national museums and cultural centers that have been established over the past decades attest to it. And the impressive support that continues to move the long-held dream of a National Museum of African American History and Culture to fruition affirms it.
"But, it’s a qualified yes. It requires that we broaden the definition of support beyond merely financial and that we include in our considerations the many socio-political and economic factors that impact charitable giving among African-Americans.
“Statistically African-Americans make more charitable donations of their income per year than whites despite the fact that over the past several decades the wealth gap between blacks and whites has become a nearly unbridgeable chasm. This is the case even between middle-income white households and high-income African-Americans – the result of many factors, but primarily of ongoing discrimination and unfair practices.
“The pressing questions are: Where does support for the arts fall on the list of priorities as the wealth disparity gap widens and as African-Americans fall behind in wealth and legacy building and move ahead in debt accumulation? At what juncture does support for museums and other cultural institutions enter into the dialogue as critical decisions are made about saving for college education, weathering a prolonged period of unemployment, paying for health insurance and care giving, planning for retirement, and supporting extended family members and unemployed friends?
“Today many of our nonprofit cultural organizations, museums, cultural centers and theaters across the nation are facing financial challenges because the level of support needed to assure their long-term financial, operational and programmatic sustainability is simply not in place. Many, if not most, have no to nominal endowments and not enough cash reserve to operate without distress. While this is not specific to African-American museums, it’s particularly impactful on our organizations when coupled with other social and economic challenges facing our communities.”
African-American Philanthropy and Museums, Part 3
The African-American and African Diaspora museums and cultural institutions that have emerged across the United States are a testimony to perseverance. At the same time they, like many other cultural institutions, face many challenges. Nonprofit CEO, capacity building consultant, master strategist and cultural arts worker Grace C. Stanislaus recently shared her perspectives on African-American and African Diaspora giving, philanthropy, and the role of cultural and arts institutions.
“Our present level of giving to social justice, civil rights, poverty, health, education and other social and political causes, and to the arts, is truly remarkable. Our giving to the arts is especially remarkable given the systematic denigration of our contributions to American and world culture, and decades of exclusion from art history books and from mainstream museums.
“Yet coupled with our remarkable progress are challenges,” Stanislaus continued. “One challenge is the dramatic scale up in the size of the architectural edifices we’ve built in the past several decades to house our art and to tell our stories. We’re suffering from the disparity between the increase in the economy of scale and the economic reality of what’s required to operate and sustain these multimillion-dollar facilities. The ‘if you build it they will come’ approach as a business model doesn’t work without strong financial and operational foundations such as endowments or reserves. It certainly doesn’t work when marketing funds are inadequate to nonexistent, and development departments are inadequately staffed.
“In general our institutions experience a lack of diversity of funding sources and an over-reliance on a small and overtapped community of funders,” she continued. “We need to focus on building high-performing boards that in their makeup represents the diversity of our society and whose members deeply understand their role in bringing the right balance of wealth, wisdom and work to the equation.
“More time and resources have to be put into cultivating the philanthropic/giving culture among members of our African-American and African Diaspora communities, old and young. We need to recognize the changing climate of philanthropy in general, and find new and entrepreneurial approaches to sustaining and growing these valuable institutions.”
She ended the interview with a focus on the future, saying, “I’m encouraged when our museums establish young professional affiliate groups. While we continue to aggressively cultivate and expand our current donor base, and to establish planned giving programs, we must prepare a future generation of members, patrons, board members, angel investors, impassioned volunteers and ambassadors to take stewardship of our museums. The Studio Museum in Harlem has its Contemporary Friends program, MoAD has its dynamic MoAD Vanguard, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture is ahead of the curve in establishing its Ambassadors program. We have fought for our institutions; we now need to strategically ensure their survival and growth.”
Mel and Pearl Shaw are the authors of “Prerequisites for Fundraising Success.” They position nonprofits for fundraising success. Visit them at www.saadandshaw.com.
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