Fundraising+ Community

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• Transcript

  - Hello, hello everyone. Welcome. We're gonna give everybody about two minutes to slowly roll in here, so if you don't hear any noise, that is why, but we are very happy you could join us today. So again, we're gonna get started in just a couple minutes, thank you. All right, hello, everyone and welcome. I think we still have some people trickling in, but we've got so much good stuff for you today. We're gonna go ahead and get started. So welcome, everyone. We're very excited to have you today for our session Fundraising + Community. So let's go ahead and get started with some introductions. So today we are joined by four members of Spektrix Global fundraising team. Hi I'm Samantha Bagwell. My pronouns are she/her. And I'm based out of our New York office. Victoria O'Brien and Miriam Wright are both based out of our Manchester office and Sarah Stevens is also based out of our New York office. We're also very excited to have Jennifer Chrisphonte and Rebecca DeMarco joining us from the Perelman Performing Arts Center, also known as PAC NYC, to talk about the importance of community at their organization. They'll introduce themselves in more detail later in today's session. We are also recording today's session and we will send the recording as well as other resources that will be mentioned by the team during the webinar by email after the session. The webinar will last approximately one hour, including time for questions at the end. And we do have live captioning available, which you can turn on and off using the CC button at the bottom of your screen. So before we get started, let's take a quick look at our plan for today. After this introduction, we'll hear from Victoria and Miriam about understanding community with some real life examples from organizations we work with. And then Sarah will facilitate the conversation with Jenna and Rebecca to talk about the approach to community at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. We'll end today with some time for questions and the opportunity to share your own thoughts and experiences about community. If you do have any questions throughout the presentation, please pop them into the Q and A feature within Zoom and we'll be sure to either answer them during this time or we can follow up with you after the session. So before I hand it over to Victoria and Miriam, I want to welcome you to the first event in our 2024 Philanthropy Series. So this is the fourth year of the Philanthropy Series. We started in 2020 as a way of connecting our fundraising users during a time when it was vital to share ideas and approaches to the daily changing landscape. And over the years, this is still a place to be inspired by our peers, discover best practices and learn from industry experts and Spektrix partners. Now I do want to note that these sessions are not intended to be trainings. So while these events are not directly about Spektrix functionality, it does often come up as we share with our peers and as we show off examples. But because in this space we wanna talk more about impact than setup, we won't have time to go into specifics. So if you do happen to see anything that you would like to implement at your own organization in any of these sessions, we'll send helpful resources in a follow-up email and you can always get in touch with Spektrix support to chat logistics. So if you are new to the series, we are very excited that you chose to join us today. If you'd like to watch any of our past events, you can find recordings of each session on the Spektrix website. So last year we kicked off fundraising and with four events. The first fundraising and collaboration was dedicated to highlighting the importance of collaboration and cross departmental communication. And we were joined by leaders from two Spektrix organizations who discuss strategies for cultivating a shared vision to make fundraising every runs priority. The second event was fundraising and your website where we showed off best practice approaches for optimizing your website for your fundraising efforts. In the third event we heard from our partners, Katy Rains from Indigo and Sean Kelly from Vatic in fundraising and ticketing, on how ticketing and fundraising can best support each other to support the organization. And we ended the year with fundraising and marketing where we were joined by Lucy Schindler from Dotdigital to dive into best practices from our sector and beyond. So if you'd like to take a look at last year's events, you can watch the recordings on the Spektrix website. The link will be shared with you in the email. So we are continuing the fundraising and theme this year with four events that will each cover a core component of successful fundraising, community, communication, connections, and culture. Each event will blend real life examples with expert strategic insight, empowering you with the knowledge you need to meet and exceed your goals. This series will empower you to take full advantage of the tools and resources in Spektrix, connect with your global fundraising community and maximize the impact of your fundraising work. So we're starting today exploring the importance of community. So I've stayed working in the arts for the same reason I got into the arts in the first place, which for me is the impact arts have on their community. It provides a place to gather, a place of belonging, a place to explore new perspectives and ways of thinking. And that community impact is what's motivated me throughout my entire career. And I'm sure that I'm not alone in this. I imagine many of us started in our careers for the same reason and it's still a huge reason that I'm so passionate about what I get to do now at Spektrix. So I have the opportunity to work with organizations that serve hundreds of communities and I get to help them leverage technology to increase their impact and serve even more people. So to kick us off, we would love to know what community means to you. So in just a few minutes, Victoria will share a digital poll called a Slido that you can participate in by scanning a QR code on your phone. So please go ahead, have your phones at the ready so you can submit your answers. And with that I will pass it over to Victoria.
  
  - Thank you, Samantha. So before we dive into our conversations around community, it's probably helpful to examine what we actually mean by the term. Beginning with this following quote from social theorist Bell Hooks. "The challenge these days is to be somewhere, to belong to some particular place, invest oneself in it, draw strength and courage from it ,to dwell in a community." In today's reflection, we'll explore the concept of community, it's relationship with an arts and cultural organizations and our responsibilities as fundraisers are stewards of the communities that surround us. So what exactly is a community? Well, strictly speaking, it encompasses a group of individuals who share common characteristics, whether they are geographical, cultural, religious, or based on shared interests. It's obviously also all of that and more. First, let's fire up an interactive slide to find out the types of community your organizations work with. As mentioned, you can scan this QR code with your smartphone, leave your thoughts anonymously or otherwise, and we'll gather these results and share in a few moments. So whilst you add the communities that you work with, we know that there are spaces that encompass a sense of belonging, of shared values and experiences that bind us together. Community is where we may find support, inspiration, a sense of identity. Community can be chosen, it can be inherited, and it can be something that we want to escape from. In fundraising, understanding the diverse communities we serve is essential for building meaningful connections and driving impact. Thanks for adding your own communities. Let's now look how communities interact with our sector. When we define a community, which characteristics are we actually looking at? So to be counted as one, participants must have the intention and sense of being a part of a community and therefore it's as much defined by the mind frame of its members as it is by its outside characteristics. Do we perhaps even use the correct terminology when considering a community? When working on this webinar, I actually asked myself what communities I belong to and genuinely struggled. Once I started to think however about scenes and clubs and groups, I realized I have actually got quite a few. So I've got a writing group, a parents community group here at Spektrix and perhaps my own hometown cultural communities too. We should challenge thinking of a community as some distinct characteristic rather than a group of people all with a shared mindset. Arts and cultural organizations play a vital role in nurturing vibrant communities. We know and see that they can serve as powerful catalysts for connection and expression. As we can see in just some of these examples from Kiln theater in North London, leveraging the power of arts and culture can and does enhance the sense of belonging so many individuals want from their communities. Fundraisers within these organizations will see these opportunities all around and be engaging with them regularly. However, engaging with the community requires a deep understanding of its unique needs and perspectives. Program managers and fundraisers must be mindful of motivations and intentions, acknowledging that different techniques, politics and processes can affect how people perceive working with the local community. And what do we even mean by working within the community? Are we empowering relevant voices or are we imposing our own ideas of what that community needs? It's really essential to approach community engagement with humility, recognizing the diverse perspectives and needs of those we may not share common ground with. As Samantha mentioned earlier, we actually see everyone attending today as one of the communities we serve. And as such, we ask for feedback and conversation around what we can provide to you. Lemme pass to my colleague Miriam, to talk more about how Spektrix see our partnership in delivering impact.
  
  - Thank you so much, Victoria. So at Spektrix we understand how important the arts and culture is to the world around us. Michael Nabarro Spektrix's CEO and founder has said that, "The stories told on stages, in exhibitions, and in events can challenge long-held views, inspire action and drive positive change across society and for our planet. Our purpose is to build the reach, health and resilience of this essential sector through great technology designed around their needs and the support to thrive in a changing world." At Spektrix, we see ourselves as a partner to the arts and cultural sector rather than just a software provider. Part of our solution is to facilitate connections within our own community, the community of arts, cultural and entertainment organizations, wider partners and audiences. Facilitating connections between arts organizations is one of the ways that we can prioritize this community through webinars such as this, connecting similar organizations to build working groups, events, presence at cultural conferences, and more. So though we do not serve your audiences and customers directly, the impact of the work your organization has on your communities is part of the mission of Spektrix. So I'm now gonna show you some different organizations that use Spektrix and ways in which they keep community top of mind in their work. But first, let's revisit what communities your organizations may work with. Oh my goodness, look at all those, that's fantastic. And if no one's used Slido before, the larger the word is, the more votes that particular community has. So we have artists right at the center, young people, arts, local communities, local schools, the local area, local, national and internationals, sports groups, patrons, older people. This is really wonderful stuff. Thank you so much for submitting these. So let's have a look at a few examples that we have from our Spektrix community. So a lot of you have said things like local, national, international, arts organizations are central to a geographical community is often a key example that we think about. And we're gonna hear from one such organization, the Perelman Performing Arts Center later on in this webinar. Organizations that have a physical venue will always need to consider the community of local residents, but also workers and visitors in and around the area that you operate in. If you have a physical space open to the public, your engagement with your local community may come in the form of a space for quiet reflection or a coffee shop or a restaurant, or even something as simple as toilet access. If you're an organization that provides artists support and from the results I can see that most of you are, your community of artists are both a key part of your mission and often advocates for your organization and the artist community itself. Circomedia, the Center for Contemporary Circus and Physical Theater provides artist support, mentoring, residential programs and development spaces to ensure that the art of circus and physical theater is continuing to push boundaries. Those Circomedia does provide classes and courses in the form of their Circus Academy, artists support to the artist's community is open to everyone. Circomedia states that their artist support is open to all who share the art principles of the artist as creator, combining art forms and using the body to convey meaning. They also display that artist collective community on their website right alongside their fundraising efforts. So you can see here they have Supporting You right next to Support Us. And whatever type of organization you are, one of your key communities will always be your audiences, attendees, and participants, like-minded people who love your particular branch of arts, culture or entertainment. By listening to our audiences and understanding their values and priorities, we can ensure that we are serving them in the way that allows them to engage with and enjoy the work. A great example of this and how it often intersects with fundraising efforts are audience access schemes, allowing all members of your audience to engage with your work without barriers, both physical and digital, mean that we are acknowledging the diverse perspectives of our audience communities. Rose Theater in Omaha, Nebraska demonstrate this through many initiatives, but the one I'd like to highlight is their sensory friendly performances, which are relaxed performances that are accompanied by social stories, both in video and document format. A social story is a way to prepare audiences with additional needs like autism to come to the theater. It outlines the process of arriving, showing your tickets to the box office, what the stage looks like, who you'll meet and much more. Rose Theater commits to removing obstacles and opening up new opportunities for people with disabilities, meaning that no one in their community of audience feels excluded from their work.
  
  - As we've seen from the impact of these projects, fundraisers can benefit from involving a community in their work. And by encouraging donations and working with volunteers, sponsored events and local groups, they can raise awareness and funds for a cause. However, how do we keep our motivations clear when we are subject to larger targets and increasingly narrow grant qualifications? Can we look to our own organizational community to ensure we are appropriately setting goals and objectives that align with the communities we wish to engage with? And if not, can we empower change within our organizations to deliver true impact from genuine investment in the wellbeing of the communities that we serve? Let's take for example, education programs. As fundraisers, we often find ourselves advocating for these programs and initiatives, but how can we be effective instigators of change if we're several steps removed from the frontline work? How often do we perhaps speak with the facilitators of the workshops that we fund, beyond evaluation reports and attendance registers to actually understand the work that is being delivered and the qualitative impact that results? What are our motivations for these education campaigns? Are we solely focused on hitting targets and securing grants or do we seek genuine connection and impact within our communities? Understanding our motivation shapes the authenticity and effectiveness of our efforts. And importantly, if we have fundraising relationships with known foundations, are we perhaps retrofitting the work to fit their criteria? For example, as a freelance fundraiser, in my early career in the northeast of England, it was really common for local authorities to offer out sums of money for work in the community. You've all heard of it. It would have to happen in a very particular area for a specified group of people with really no discussion on if they were the best fit or most in need for these participants. There weren't any wider objectives or goals, but as facilitators and fundraisers, we would've been stupid to turn it down as a method of paying both ourselves as freelancers and facilitators in the region. So how does this match if we have organizational goals, for example, so for a workshop to combat loneliness in the over sixties or to introduce young people to backstage opportunities, provide a space for local artists to produce work, how can we marry those grant criteria to our organizational mission? Apologies, seeing a bit of a issue, two secs. More recently, we are starting to hear of North American granting authorities, especially in the New York area, requiring a qualification score that projects are required to demonstrate. And this breaks down into something like the following. So public service and impact, which is measurable efforts towards increasing access and equity across all communities impacted by the organization. So some examples would be programs like discounts, scholarships that make programs more affordable, and expanding accessibility. So providing resources for undeserving communities would also fit under this too. That part of the school would be 45%. Organizational accountability or demonstrating the organization conducts itself in a sustainable and perhaps ethical way. This might be done by responsible fiscal planning and reporting, having staff boards, partners and making sure that there's a diversity of organization community, which has clear and fair internal communication. And finally, we have artistic quality, which is sitting at 15%. And this can be measured by ensuring programs and activities are delivered in a way that allows for meaningful artistry. So if what we're already doing already meets the scoring system, then brilliant, we're a good match and we should apply for that funding. If what we're doing doesn't meet this scoring system, why is that? Do we naturally need to make some adjustments internally based on this criteria or do we pass up this funding opportunity so we're not forcing what we're doing already to mold into this criteria? We work in a world where legitimacy is often measured by our relationship to evidence. So how can we ensure that the evidence of the impact can also raise the voice of the culture? From an income generation perspective, how do we align genuine connection and impact via the work we wish to make with what our granting bodies and donors want to fund too? It's definitely easier said than done for absolute sure. In the same way that members and donors look for alignment, we should be carefully assessing our own relationships and ensuring our work is being marked by fair criteria. So how can we listen to the communities surrounding us for new opportunities? Your local communities are going to be asking for support and perhaps quite loudly. It is our responsibility to listen and reach out to ensure that we can hear them. Fundraising for communities is a commitment to building relationships and empowering individuals to make a difference. The very thing that fundraisers are absolutely incredible about. All of our skills are perfectly suited to it, but it's often seen just as the responsibility of the grants manager or the trust team or the education team. Grants provide financial resource, but the alignment of which grant to which community should and must be an organizational responsibility.
  
  - So I'd now like to introduce a movement out of Seattle, Washington called Community-Centric Fundraising. So I'm gonna give a bit of background on the movement before going into how a few of their principles can allow us as fundraisers to assess the way that we work. So it was sparked by articles written by Vu Le in his online blog nonprofit AF and from conversations with women of color and white allies in the fundraising sector around the status of fundraising today being donor-centric as opposed to community-centric the Community-Centric Fundraising movement was born. Led by fundraisers of color, specifically to examine the alignment of fundraising with equity and social justice. Community-Centric Fundraising aims to support fundraisers to reexamine every fundraising philosophy and practice they have been taught, engage in vigorous ongoing conversations and explore doing fundraising in ways that reduce harm and further social justice. In my fundraising career at a producing theater, it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic when our communities could not come to us that I really understood the importance of our work on the people surrounding us. Community engagement was no longer just a synonym for our outreach work, but instead became the core of what we did day-to-day when we couldn't stage productions and we were fundraising for survival. It was crucial to fundraise in a community-centered way as our rhetorics shifted to demonstrating how crucial our artistic work is to the communities around us. So CCF presents nine key principles to the community-centric fundraising. I'm just gonna touch on three of them today. The first I'd like to talk about is individual organizational commissions are not as important as the collective community. So fundraising should be mission driven and the mission can't be derived by what money we can raise. If we as fundraisers do not understand why we are doing something, how can we then measure the impact of our work and authentically walk the walk? Part of this work comes from acknowledging the benefit of our organizations on the communities they serve. Why are the arts important? How does entertainment foster a sense of identity? Only by doing this can we acknowledge the role of our organizations as part of a wider cultural community. The next is that nonprofits are generous with and mutually supportive of one another. If you're a fundraiser that works for a specific organization, your priority day-to-day will often be working to achieve and support that one organization's mission of course. So what can we do as fundraisers to champion the wider community of arts and culture in our day-to-day? We can see ourselves as part of a collective, a collection of individuals in a team, departments in an organization as part of the local geography or a space for people with similar interests as well as of course champions of arts and cultural education and outreach in general. And finally, we treat donors as partners. And this means that we are transparent and occasionally have difficult conversations. So considering your donors as partners of your organization can be a really useful way of thinking about the relationship between the work you do and other communities of people. And instead of being a community group that is necessarily served by the work that you do, they are a partner that supports. So we know that a really key part of donor management is donors feeling that they are a part of something. So often when we are promoting individual giving schemes or a membership scheme, we talk about becoming a part of something, like-minded people who have each decided that your organization is something they care about enough to support. Transparency with this community about your organization's goals, priorities, and challenges. Not only strengthens and relationship with them, but allows them the agency to act as an ambassador for your organization, which is a great partner to have. But keeping in mind this language about donors and partners, we must also acknowledge that difficult conversations should happen. And when they do happen with partners, sometimes that leads to partnerships coming to an end. Are we prepared for those difficult conversations and the consequences of them?
  
  - Preparing for those conversations requires skilled communication, which is a theme so integral, we've made it the next focus session in the Philanthropy Series. And this will be coming in May. If we agree that communities are built from their participants, then communication becomes more important than ever. Whilst communities in the past were the main source of interaction for people, in the modern age, there are multiple methods of interaction, both in person, online and globally. We'll talk more about technology and the means to communicate to wider communities whilst collating data that is useful to you. Finally, it's easy to fall into the trap of considering community as something that we need to raise up that needs our support. By identifying the communities we wish to engage with and understanding their purpose and motivation, you begin to understand the actual individuals involved. And by understanding the individuals, you can consider the wider implications for prospecting strategies and membership schemes. As we look to other indicators of propensity to give, outside of retention or donor level, segmenting our audiences by community behaviors and commonality can give us a stronger ask that resonates more authentically. Arts and cultural organizations play a crucial role in nurturing this community, but only if approached with a people-centered lens that acknowledges their unique needs and perspectives. By doing so, we can own and celebrate our own personal impact on the sector that we work in, produce results that speak themselves and promote confidence that your organization is a part of the community with intention. I'll now pass to my colleague Sarah for the remainder of today's session.
  
  - Thank you, Victoria. Hi, everyone. My name is Sarah Stevens. I'm a senior consultant here at Spektrix and I am so thrilled to introduce Jenna Chrisphonte and Rebecca DeMarco from the Perelman Performing Arts Center, otherwise known as the PAC, to have a conversation about how community connects to the PAC. Thank you both so, so much for being here.
  
  - Thanks for having us.
  
  - [Jenna] Thank you.
  
  - To start, I would love to hear from both of you just in general about your background, how you got to the PAC. So Jenna, how about you kick us off?
  
  - For sure, my name is Jenna Chrisphonte and I serve as Director of Civic Alliances at the Perelman Performing Arts Center located at the World Trade Center. I was invited to join the staff by our current artistic director, Mr. Bill Rauch in 2021. So I'm coming on my three year anniversary at the PAC, and I'll share this, when I accepted the job, it was really a construction site and my beloved Haitian mother said, "When Jenna there's no building, what job is there to have if there's no building?" And I had to explain that community building has to occur years before the doors are actually open because having a show and without an audience doesn't work. We had to invite people literally years before our building was completed, before the doors opened. And that's the work that I started in 2021 on behalf of the Perelman Performing Arts Center. And it's been an honor. With that part of the community because you know another question, you know, 'cause New Yorker, if you're in New York long enough, I think it's a collective spirit. It's a truly collective spirit of people saying what they really think. And the other part I got from different people of different backgrounds who all said, "But there's so many Performing Arts Centers in New York, why do we need another one?" That's another thing people used to say. And first and foremost, you know, our building and our entire campus at the World Trade Center was rebuilt after the tragedy of September 11th. And the city of New York, the state of New York and the US federal government had decided that this place would be rebuilt. And part of that, because if you come and visit the campus, it's to be rebuilt in a sense that it provides joy, resilience, and sort of true spirit of renaissance to the city and to the World Trade Center specifically. So when I arrived again three years ago, there was already community around the site. That community first and foremost, reflects the people who lost their family and loved ones on the day of September 11th and afterwards. And for me, that was a learning process. I did not understand. I mean, I think we all think we understand September 11th, but I promise you to sit two, three days at a time with members of the 9/11 community, it's unlike anything I had ever experienced beforehand. And that's for me, that was life changing. Because when we send invitations to members of the 9/11 community, those are different invitations. It's not just, "Oh, come see us, come we're..." It's not a play at a college campus, you know, it's not that. It's a sincere invitation to join us because that community existed before us. There is no head, there is no official number. How does one define loved ones? How does one define family? There is no number. It's such a far reaching community. So that was first and foremost an acknowledgement that there's a community that proceeded all of us. And honestly, that responsibility was given to me. And then from there, the entire lower Manhattan community outside of World Trade Center. So then the adjacent, the communities that are adjacent to the World Trade Center, bringing them in. The block associations, the new tenant associations 'cause a lot of buildings were rebuilt. Not just the campus itself, but that was my job. And then on top of that, just again, it always goes back to September 11th because of our site, what I learned that I did not know beforehand was that, you know, there's an exhibit, our sister organization is a 9/11 memorial. And when you go inside the museum itself, they have an exhibit of photos with as many people who lost their lives September 11th as possible. And in there I was shocked. I did not know that so many people of color had lost their lives on September 11th because at that 8:00 AM timeframe, so many of them were service staff, cleaning the floors, making the coffee, you know, people who were just there to earn a living who again were from all five boroughs, New Jersey, long Island, wherever they were from. So for me, when we say building community, you know, the truth is many, many performing arts institutions in New York City, you know, they've had accusations and they've acknowledged this it's not gossip if you look on their websites, they've had to admit that they practice cultures of snobbery, exclusion, and racism. And they've had to, in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, acknowledge that. So for us to understand that so many of the people who died on September 11th were people of color. It means we literally cannot be racist. We cannot practice these snobbish, exclusionary, racist practices. We can't do it. It won't work because of our origin story. And I think that's been the work, that's been the initiative, that's been the sort of guiding post of always writing to people who are in the Bronx, who are in Brooklyn, who are in working groups, who are working class, who are from all these different communities that normally don't receive those pre, pre, pre-invitations to something as glamorous as a Performing Arts Center. 'Cause usually when we talk about building community, especially around fundraising, this is my opinion, the very wealthy, the very privileged are invited first. But in that case, , you know, and that occurred as well. But I do think I can say this with genuine sincerity that the Perelman Performing Arts Center, again under our Civic Alliance department, as created by Bill Rauch, we've had the strength and the capacity to seriously be in working class communities across the five boroughs to bring people downtown. And this is 2021, 2022, and 2023 again before we officially had our governmental opening on September 13th with Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams and Mayor Bloomberg and, you know, the ribbon ceremony. And for me that's the work and that's what I've been doing. So I'll pass it to Rebecca.
  
  - Yeah, what amazing work that you've been been doing, what the PAC has been doing, Becca and I worked together previously at other institutions and have seen kind of that reckoning with community over the last couple of years. And we're so grateful for the PAC to really be a pillar in the community. And excited to have you here. Becca I'd love to hear from you just a little bit about your background and also like how I know you work in fundraising, how does the development team at the PAC interact with the Civic Alliances team on a regular basis? What is that overlap?
  
  - Yeah, so I'm Rebecca DeMarco, my pronouns are she/her, I'm the development operations manager at PAC. Previously I worked at MCC Theater since 2018. Got my start as an outbound fundraiser, making the calls, having the conversations, then moved up the ladder a bit, became the operations manager there. I'm now the operations manager here. But yeah, I think as far as how development and civic alliance has worked together, I think one of the major parts is figuring out who we're inviting to opening nights, making sure that we have the correct allotments to be able to serve our community first and then also our donors. It's kind of a balancing act to figure out exactly who we're inviting to these things. But engaging our community is such an important part of those events because we're doing some really interesting work like we just did "Between Two Knees" and we wanted to make sure that we had a good amount of representation for our native community members and working with the Lenape Center, which I'm sure Jenna will get into later. But honestly, I personally feel like we don't work together as much as I would like to, which is part of the reason why I wanted Jenna to be here for this. Because from my perspective, building community really does start at the human level. And being able to highlight voices that I find are important and impactful and powerful is a really important thing for me and my work. So this, right now, having Jenna and I here doing this thing is already a part of building that community because I wanted her specifically because I knew that she had really powerful things to say and I've heard her, you know, speak every now and then in different meetings, being able to advocate for herself and for her department, which I've always found really powerful and something that I admire. So being able to look at community from a human level, whether that's from your organization or within your organization, I think is really important work to be doing.
  
  - Can I just say Rebecca's being extraordinarily gracious, what she's actually saying is I get into tiffs every day what someone at work, 'cause I rabble rouse to the fullest extent of New York state law.
  
  - I think it's important though. I think it's important work I do.
  
  - Because otherwise it becomes like an email that gets forgotten. A note that people forget. But I'm rabble rousing every single day. I promise you this. Every day one of my beloved colleagues is like, "Oh, Jenna's getting on my nerves." Yes because I can't, you can't, we can't forget it can't be for next time. It can't be for next event. It doesn't work because the reality is this and I think this is where again my boss is Bill Rauch, where we go back and forth. It's like Bill, we live in the year 2024 in New York City, which means what? It means, this is the age of the internet. The internet is king. If either I say it to you in our office so we can deal with it or you never know, the next day 10,000 people are on some social media platform coming for this organization because someone forgot to check their email. I was like, this is not me doing anything against the PAC's long-term best interests. 'Cause I promise you, and you know, one of my colleague Penny Pun, because we do considerable outreach to NYCHA. So for the people of other parts, that's the New York City Housing Authority, which provides public housing here in the city of New York. And you know, a lot of times the residents and the staff, they take the longest to respond to us because truthfully the majority of people who live in NYCHA housing are living in federally defined poverty. They take a long time to respond. And my colleague, Penny Pun who is younger, she's still in her twenties I believe. She's like, "Well I wrote to, they didn't respond." I was like, "You write again and you write again and you write again." I said, "But what does that mean to just write again?" You just write one sentence. "Hi, I'm just following up, I'm just responding." And I was like, "Well why? I was like, "Because what's gonna happen," 'cause I I come from politics, I come from campaign work, organizing all of that. I was like, "Because you don't wanna be on the other end of a New York Post article where they're saying you didn't, no one invited NYCHA. You wanna be able to pull up your email and have 24 emails like we invited them two dozen times, here are all the emails. They didn't respond." That's the position we wanna be in terms of, we've asked and we've invited so often we feel like that annoying bill collector. That's the position I want us to be. But communities that are in need know that they are always welcome. 'Cause that's like, I feel like the New York Public Library, my favorite organization in the city of New York is the New York Public Library. Specifically the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. And that it is marble clad, it is opulent, it is wealthy, it is gorgeous. And I always felt welcome there. And I think most New Yorkers would agree with me. No matter where you grew up in New York, you step into New York Public Library. And don't get me wrong, there are parts of the building physically you can't go into. 'cause they do have deep archives, they do have places you have to get permission or access. But that feeling when you walk in, when you feel welcome, 'cause that's our building too. When we, again, going back to September 11th, I learned this with this position. I did not know this before even though I grew up in New York, we know that on the day of September 11th, over 2,900 individuals lost their lives. What I did not know was that of those 2,900 individuals, 1100 of those bodies were never recovered. Which means there will always be people on our grounds, on our campus looking for their lost loved ones. So that the Perelman Performing Arts Center has the capacity, 'cause again, once our doors open I believe it's 12 noon officially, our doors are open. Someone can just walk into the building, sit down, take shelter from the rain or the sun, use the restroom, just walk around and inhabit the space. Again, like the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, again, you don't have full access to the building at any time of the day, but you can walk in and you know you're welcome. You know that you're safe. And that's the spirit that I always call. And that's the spirit I always invite in the work that we do on behalf of civic alliances.
  
  - And that space is so important. And I know I miss being in New York and I wish that I could come visit sometimes soon. I do wanna fly. We have about five minutes left of this Q and A, but we also have room for Q and A from the wider audience. So if you do have any questions for Jenna or Rebecca or for Miriam or Victoria, please be sure to pop those into the Q and A. I do want to link something back to what Miriam said about community-centric fundraising. Becca, this question's gonna be for you. Just like talking about donors as partners. I know that like sometimes that can be a little bit difficult, especially that bit that Miriam talked about, about like sometimes partnerships end. So I'm curious to know if there have been any experience where you've had to really like lean into that donors as partnership, if there has ever been a partnership breakup that you, you know, without naming me, I just wanna chat through, we have about like five minutes before we should wrap up for that Q and A.
  
  - Sure. I love this question. I think it's really important, and I'll start with the positive first. I think at PAC, since we are new, we're in our inaugural season right now, we are able to take a lot of feedback from donors to hear what they want as far as what their benefits are. And having them engaged in that way really does help them feel supported by the work that we are doing. When they actually have a say in what they want to have from us, we're able to really engage them in a larger sense, which is a really great thing that we have that I haven't had at other organizations that I've worked with. Yes, I have had a lot of challenging situations with donors and there's a few different ways that we've handled that. The first way I will say, I did manage a team of five fundraisers at my last organization and my way of handling anything was always hang up the phone. If you are uncomfortable, if you don't like the conversation you're having, we don't need their money. I don't care, right? I care about you first as a human being, hang up the phone. In some sense there's a way of protecting the community that you've established by politely excusing someone from the conversation. And I think that that's really important to remember because we have our values, we have our mission, and we want to develop a community that is in line with that. So when someone isn't in line with that, it's not even worth it to engage that conversation or even start to try and change their mind because often their mind won't change and that's, you know, their own journey that they're gonna be on, unfortunately. But as a manager, protecting a team of five people, I needed to really put them first and make sure that they were supported in the work that they were doing. And if they wanted to have that conversation, then by all means have at it. But if that is really going to affect you deeper than get the heck off the phone. The other way that we've been able to manage this kind of situation actually is using Spektrix. We did implement a danger tag. There was a lot of conversations about changing the name of that, so it would be a little more hush hush, but we didn't, I think that it was still just called the danger tag. There was a situation where one of our larger donors actually was in the news for some bad things that he did that absolutely did not align with our values. Thankfully he was nearing the end of his Patron membership and our executive director reached out and said, "Thank you for your support. You will not be invited back into our space given recent events." And that was the full conversation. We were able to tag his profile with this danger tag so that our box office and front of house employees were aware that this person was not allowed in our space. They would then know to notify their manager and then the manager would be in control of not allowing them into the theater. That part never happened. They never returned after the executive director politely asked them not to come back. But yeah, I think excusing voices is just as important when building a community of people that you actually want in your community.
  
  - Yeah, a hundred percent. And if those folks who are rude to you on the phone or rude to your staff members, like those people are gonna threaten your space when they come to visit as well. And we already wanna make sure that this is an inclusive space and if somebody is rude, we don't want that here. Amazing, thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with us today. I could talk to y'all for another hour, like there's so much to to dive into. I wish we had more time, but maybe that just means we'll have to have you back another time. I hope that those watching today were able to get a lot out of this conversation and feel inspired to take some things back to your wider team. Before we dive into that Q and A, I do wanna highlight some of the key takeaways from today's webinar. First things first, take some time to identify your communities. We all know that we serve arts lovers and performers and creative types, but who really are your audience members? How are you, or how can you actively expand your community to be more inclusive of folks who may have felt excluded in the past? If you haven't, do some research into the history of your neighborhoods and your cities and learn more about the culture that made those areas what they are. And your organization will thrive because of it. Next, assess your motivations. Are you doing the work you're doing in order to secure funding or target a specific donor? Or are you doing the work because it aligns with your mission and values? When you center the work you're doing, the donations will follow. And someone out there will be passionate about that work and willing to fund it. But you have to be part of that community in order to flag who those folks are and build a strong enough connection and relationship with them in order to make that ask. And finally, when fundraising, is important to center the community, think about what you're doing now and what you could be doing better. Are you just focused on your mission or are you thinking about the collective community that you are in? Are you working with an uplifting other nonprofits? And if not, what is some of the art that you're producing? Or how does, or sorry, are you working with and uplifting other nonprofits? If not, what are some of the art that you're producing and how does that fit into the wider community? And are there nonprofits that align with that show or that gallery that you could signal boost? Are you listening to donors as if they're partners? Are there partnerships that no longer serve you because they don't align with your community values? Think critically about these principles and take action steps accordingly. So again, we are opening up that Q and A. We have about five to eight-ish minutes left and we'd love to answer some of your questions. So if you have a question for Victoria, Miriam, or Jenna and Rebecca, use that Q and A button in Zoom, or if you'd like to share something wonderful that you are doing within your own community, you can use the chat functionality and we would love to hear from all of you. So first question for the PAC, this can go to either Jenna or Becca. How do you make sure that your space feels welcoming and accessible to all members of the community?
  
  - I'll take it.
  
  - Yeah, perfect.
  
  - So I think it's where we started. So the first thing that we did, we created something called Civic Alliances, Anchor Alliances. And what that means is we have five organizations... Because you know, everyone wants to be that organization, but there are organizations who've been doing it for decades. So what we did was we established Anchor Alliances with organizations that have been doing the work for a very long time. First and foremost Borough Manhattan Community College, which is literally across the street from us. Because when we think of New York City and where everyone can go, because the great thing about the Borough Manhattan Community College is if someone's first generation, they're prepared to welcome you. If someone, for whatever reason had to leave school to have a child, and now they're in their forties and their child's grown, they wanna go back to school and learn something, the BMCC welcomes people. And people just fresh from another country, BMCC is ready to welcome them. So our list in terms of when we invite people to events, it coincides with BMCCs list. And the same is true for the Interfaith Center of New York. They've been working for decades on bringing people of different faith traditions together across all the New York City. Our list is part of their list. The Center for the Independence of the Disabled of New York, as led by Dr. Sharon McLennon Weir. They advocate so passionately for members of the disabled community to bring everyone in. And when it comes especially to performing arts spaces, how we welcome people is so crucial. It so crucially requires pre-arrangements and preparations and accommodations. And again, our list is their list and we bring them in. And the same for the New York Immigration Coalition advocating for immigrants across the five boroughs and then also the Lenape Center because the land itself in terms of how it represents the Lenape people who were here before all of us, just understanding what does that mean, the tragedy. 'Cause you know, another part of the work that they do so beautifully is the first tragedy on, you know, in lower Manhattan wasn't just September 11th. It was the fact that the Lenape not be people themselves, they lost their lives, they lost the land. And so many things, just the history of lower Manhattan itself. And we, again, we partner so adamantly with these organizations so that they're brought in.
  
  - Thank you so much for sharing. And that again, just dives back into the community-centric fundraising that Miriam was speaking about and uplifting and sharing with other nonprofits is so important in the community. I think we probably have time for one more question, and I really like this one. It might be more of a hypothetical, but I'm gonna throw this one to you, Becca. "How do you handle patrons who are on board of directors that act the way that you shared?" Have you ever had, you know, somebody you work with, somebody who was on your board, again anonymously, that may have been, you know, put somebody in staff in a position that they felt uncomfortable? And how was that managed or how would you manage it?
  
  - Sure, I will say that has not happened at PAC. I think we have a pretty great board of directors, so I'm just gonna say that out loud for the room. But something did happen it was in the news, I wasn't working there at the time, but there was a situation with a member of the board at my last organization and it was handled pretty much the exact same way. At the end of the day, when a person joins the board, they are committing themselves to our values and to our mission and to being advocates and supporters for the work that we do. So when something like that happens, when something big happens, then it really is a conversation with the executive director. And I don't think that that conversation can happen really with anyone else but the executive director. It has to come from them and it has to be done with care. But at the end of the day, we have our mission, we have our values, and if we don't have those, then we're losing our community. We lose the trust that our community is building for us too.
  
  - Absolutely. And that leadership, 100% comes from the top. And it's nice to see that there are organizations that really make that part of their values and that those leaders are willing to sacrifice the money and relationships in order to protect their staff and their values, so perfect. All right, well I do think that that is everything for today, folks. Thank you again for joining us in your morning or your afternoon for contributing so willingly. Please do check out the Philanthropy Series webpage to register for the three remaining events this year. You can scan out little QR code there and share the benefits to your colleagues. It could be a great introduction to collaborating across teams like the Civic Alliance and the development teams at the PAC. Thank you so, so, so much again to Jenna and Rebecca, and also to Miriam and Victoria and Sam, it's been such a joy to talk to all of you and hear all of your knowledge and insights. I know we have so many other questions, but we just didn't have time to get to them today. As we mentioned earlier, these sessions are designed for you and to support your teams. And as such, when you leave this webinar, you're gonna see a little Zoom webpage with like super short survey in it. And I know survey fatigue is so real, I feel it myself. So we made this as short and sweet as possible. So it really helps us understand what you need and what you want from events like this. But please, please, please take a few seconds just to share your thoughts as you sign off. Thank y'all again so much. We look forward to seeing you at the next one in May I believe. And if you need anything, please don't hesitate to reach out to the fundraising team at support@spektrix.com.

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