Broward Cultural Division is hosting two half-day sessions designed to build stronger financial health and vibrancy in the nonprofit arts sector. This first session is for grantees and nonprofit organizations; cultural executive directors, development staff and board members are encouraged to attend.

In the arts and cultural sector, many nonprofit executives and board members aim for financial stability but struggle to make ends meet. Their organizations must adapt to changing community interests and needs but lack the resources for risk-taking and risk-management. While balanced budgets are expected, arts and cultural organizations require working capital and long-term savings to innovate and thrive in a changing operating environment. This three-hour session for grantees will look at what it means to be a well-capitalized organization achieving financial health and vibrancy within their marketplace.

Hosted by Grantmakers in the Arts and Broward Cultural Division, this highly rated workshop develops a common vocabulary about capitalization and identifies its universal application for financial health of the nonprofit arts sector in the local marketplace. This discussion reveals how nonprofits can approach funders about financial need that is not programmatic.

Defining capitalization as “the resources an organization needs to fulfill its mission over time,” in 2010, GIA (Grantmakers in the Arts) embarked on the National Capitalization Project (NCP) to seek answers to the under-capitalized tendency of the nonprofit arts field. Conversations on Capitalization and Community have been held in 15 cities engaging cultural funders and arts organizations in a dialogue about the financial health of nonprofit art groups in their community and how funders might better support capitalization principles for their grantees.

The workshop will be led by national experts Champ Knecht, Director of Operations & Finance, Grantmakers in the Arts, and Rebecca Thomas, Principal, Rebecca Thomas & Associates (RTA) and former Vice President, Nonprofit Finance Fund. Together, Grantmakers in the Arts and Rebecca Thomas have trained hundreds of nonprofit executives, board members, and funders.

Goals for Conversations on Capitalization and Community:

1. Elevate knowledge of capitalization for nonprofits and their funders.

2. Provide shared vocabulary that granters and grantees use to inform and transform grantmaking and nonprofit financial practices.

3. Provide insights into effective dialogues between funders and grantees.

4. Facilitate discussion with funders and nonprofits about their community’s capital drivers, their institutional values and practices, and the ways that each entity fits into the arts eco-system.

5. Create a greater sense of complementary practice and camaraderie for a stronger, healthier arts and culture ecosystem.

Participation by 2 or more board and senior staff members is strongly encouraged. RSVP $10. Includes lunch following the meeting.

For more information, visit Grantmakers in the Arts website on Conversations in Capitalization here.