For arts, nonprofits, a test of will

Author: Bob Keyes

Published: June 26, 2005

The arts are in a precarious position in America these days.

The good news is that all over the country, political leaders and everyday citizens alike recognize the role the arts play in creating healthy, liveable communities.

People want to live where artists live, and communities value the vitality that artists bring to a neighborhood, a city and a region.

Certainly, we're seeing that in Maine, in all corners of the state.

The bad news is, our economic systems and structures tend not to support our artists. While artists are feeling less marginalized and there is more social recognition of the role of the artist in society, money hasn't followed.

The arts survive as much by will as anything else.

And our will is being tested.

Edward Skloot, executive director of the Surdna Foundation, a significant funder of arts organizations and environmental causes in Maine, came to South Portland recently to address the annual meeting of the Maine Philanthropy Center.

He didn't discuss the arts specifically, but the not-for-profit sector in general. His message, though laced with hope, was undeniably bleak.

"I believe the next few years will bring an onslaught of activity in Washington, directly contrary to the interests and finances of the sector. The nonprofit sector of Maine is not exempt from these threats," he said.

He said foundations such as his, which makes grants to the Bates Dance Festival, the Center for Cultural Exchange and the North Haven Arts Enrichment Council and others, are under siege.

Specifically, proposed changes in tax policies - including sweeping reductions in estate taxes - could diminish giving in America by billions of dollars.

Whatever the merits, political and otherwise, of getting rid of the so-called death tax, Skloot said there was little doubt in his mind that such a change would devastate foundations and significantly hamper their ability to support the arts and other causes.

"Without the incentive of the estate tax to keep money out of government hands, philanthropic giving would diminish by at least $10 billion every year," Skloot said, citing figures from a report of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

As goes philanthropy in America, so go the arts.

Arts organizations depend heavily on the generosity of others to survive. With government funding down and corporate giving thin and growing thinner, groups that support and promote the arts are competing against each other for foundation grants.

Rather than sulk in depression, Skloot urged Maine's nonprofit sector to educate itself and become a player in Augusta, just as Surdna and other foundations have become players in Washington.

It's time to lobby, and there's little time time to waste, he said.

Maine is in transition from a natural-resource economy to one built around tourism and small industry. Simultaneously, the anti-tax campaign is demanding full attention in Augusta.

"This fiscal squeeze is going to test the mettle of leadership in this state. It will especially test the nonprofit sector," he said.

To evolve and survive, nonprofits must work together, support each other and forge new relationships. At the same time, foundations should make special attempts to fund projects that support the nonprofit sector itself, Skloot said.

"Strengthening the sector and its ability to work together should be a high priority for funders, big and small," he said.

Surdna's reach into Maine has been significant.

In 2000, it awarded a three-year grant, at about $60,000 a year, to Portland's Center for Cultural Exchange. The center's mission was to create youth programs for refugee kids.

"We didn't want to do just recreation things, but we wanted to have an impact on kids and adults, the whole community," said Phyllis O'Neill, the center's co-director. "Their fund allowed us to bring master artists to work with kids.

It was the beginning of all the stuff with kids that we do."

The silver lining in all of this is that Maine has a history of finding local solutions.

Despite our fragile and evolving economy, we're a small enough state that working together is not a daunting task. People here know each other on a personal level, and that makes a difference.

Another trend that offers hope is the growing new wealth of America.

Baby boomers and the generation behind have money to spend. Increasingly they seem willing to spend it on causes they believe in.

Gradually, the role of individual donors and small family foundations - such as many of those administered by the Maine Community Foundation - is growing in importance relative to the role of large foundations.

So there's hope.

Skloot noted as much when he said, "From my vantage point, philanthropy and nonprofits in Maine are ready and able to develop answers for the next decade. In fact, given the resourcefulness and energy they show, there is even reason for optimism."