Michigan art groups get million-dollar grant to secure future

By Mark Stryker • Free Press Staff Writer • July 16, 2009
 
Give arts groups money and you help them pay the bills today. Teach them to how to use the internet to reach new donors and audiences and you might help them truly secure their future.
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That’s the thinking behind a $1 million challenge grant announced today by the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan. The grant is tied to an online marketing and fund-raising initiative that could generate as much as $3 million in operating funds for about 80 member groups of the Cultural Alliance of Southeast Michigan.
 
The money comes at a critical time for metro Detroit’s arts organizations, which have lost millions of dollars in corporate, individual and government support during the recession and have been forced to lay off staff, cut salaries and eliminate artistic programs. The grant also underscores the increasingly important role local foundations are playing in helping to sustain local arts groups, from large institutions like the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to midsize and grassroots groups.
 
“We want to help groups with money, but we also want to help them understand that so much of the future is online,” said foundation president Mariam Noland. “If we can help groups use the capacity of the Web to build their donor and audience base, that will be a lasting legacy.”
 
Here’s how the program works: Beginning at 10 a.m. Aug 18, donors can give from $25 to $10,000 to as many groups as they want at www.cfsem.org. Credit cards and e-checks will be accepted. Every dollar donated will be matched with 50 cents from the foundation. Groups will be limited to a maximum of $600,000 ($400,000 in gifts, plus $200,000 in matching funds). In effect, the program becomes a race until the foundation’s $1 million investment is gone.
 
With today’s announcement, arts groups have a month to mobilize their donor base.
 
Moreover, the foundation is requiring that to be eligible an organization has to participate in a training workshop devoted to internet marketing, fundraising and social-networking. Some local arts groups have begun to develop sophisticated online marketing and fundraising initiatives but most are still in their infancy.
 
Rest of article found at:
http://www.freep.com/article/20090716/ENT/90716069/Michigan-art-groups-get-million-dollar-grant-to-secure-future

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