Webinar Recap: Community That Drives Philanthropy

June 24, 2021

(Video replay at end of article)

This week, we were delighted to host a webinar to talk about community — specifically the intersection of community and philanthropy. Joining us to share case studies from their own organizations were Tim Jennings, Executive Director & CEO of Shaw Festival Theatre, and Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director at Pasadena Playhouse.

Both arts leaders shared insights about their community engagement approach and how it connects to their donor efforts.

Having recently finished a survey of over 5,000 donors in the US, UK, and Canada as part of our massive research initiative around donor behavior, we framed the discussion around a key finding of the study: the need for a cohesive strategy around community investment.

Quantitative Findings

To start, we reviewed some of the key findings from our research.

 Back at the end of 2020 we recruited over 5,000 donors from 47 different organizations to complete an extensive survey. Respondents were donors who gave at least $250 in the past three years, but many were giving at a major donor level. We asked donors about giving level, attendance, giving to other organizations, relationship to the organization, and plans for future donations.

 One of the key analyses we conducted was looking at donors’ motivations to give. 94% of respondents said that they give to support the work of an arts organization — but this doesn’t tell us much about the deeper reasons why, or what differentiates arts organizations for them. To further understand the patterns in these answers, we performed a cluster analysis.

We found that donors cluster into three groups: benefits driven givers, art lovers, and community donors. Within that last group there were two themes: one is that they support projects and community activities, and so demonstrate a desire to have impact on the community where they live. The other is supporting friends and family and accessing the network of other donors — in other words, they want to be part of a community themselves.  

One surprise for us was that the size of the segments is roughly equal, at around 30% each (with some minor variation depending on genre). We were surprised again by changes in those proportions at various levels of giving — it turns out that benefits and community donors make up a larger percentage of donors as you move into higher tiers of giving, whereas the lowest tiers have more art lovers.

We also learned that the community donor is the most generous on average. All groups had similar levels of annual giving, but the community donor gives most in other giving (such as campaigns and events). So, community donors represent a big opportunity for us: how much might they give if we connected better to their motivations?

This is not an entirely new conversation. In a 2014 Washington Post article, then-Americans for the Arts President Robert Lynch was quoted as advocating for the need for organizations to think about “arts and something else” — a theme for today’s conversation. Art can be a tool to help deliver the things community donors care about. This could range from enabling a sense of belonging, to creating an oasis in a crazy world, to building opportunities for connection. There are so many ways we can take the “and something else,” and now is a great moment to talk about this.

Case Study: Shaw Festival

We looked at two case studies of arts organizations investing in community connection. The first was the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. They had been heavily reliant on ticket sales until appointing new artistic director Tim Carroll and new executive director Tim Jennings. Carroll wanted to shake things up, saying: “I want to make the whole place more porous.” The leadership team worked on re-stating their mission to be about real human encounters and connecting humanity.

What did that mean in terms of activities? First, the Shaw Festival increased their education and community engagement activities — making sure that donors were not just made aware of these activities, but actively included in them. They then switched their membership scheme to a “friends” program, placing emphasis not on exclusivity but rather closeness. Finally, they dramatically increased the number of events they held and invited everyone to attend (donors receive passes and all others can pay a small ticket price).

All of this had big impact — in addition to eliminating deficits, Shaw Festival increased giving by 30%. The theatre is now a better part of the community and can communicate their financial impact more effectively.

Tim Jennings provided some further insight during our webinar into the changes he and his team accomplished. He emphasized the influence the organization’s namesake, George Bernard Shaw, has had on their efforts to transform into a space that propels the belief that art serves basic needs. Tim and his fellow leaders stopped calling the Shaw Festival a nonprofit, and started calling it a charity, which accelerated them into a framework of operating that focused on serving the community, rather than a commercial entity.

An additional step was to radically diversify the acting ensemble — Shaw Festival Theatre now has 50% of their actors identifying as BIPOC. Supporting that ensemble and the rest of their staff was crucial during the pandemic, and Tim shared how hiring their contract artists as full-time outreach specialists allowed the theatre to provide work during the health crisis while also developing a thriving education and community ecosystem.

Case Study: Pasadena Playhouse

Founded in 1917, Pasadena Playhouse has a history as the state theater of California. Its acting academy trained the likes of Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman. Their shift to a community perspective came about in 2016: they were in a difficult situation on the eve of their centennial, with an artistic director ending his tenure and resulting shaky financial footing. With donor and community trust in the organization at a low, they needed a new strategy.

The path to financial turnaround was similarly about cementing their role in the community though their new mission: “to enrich people’s lives through theater, community programs, and learning.” Danny Feldman joined the company as Producing Artistic Director at this pivotal time and shared with us how he saw a strong disconnect in the way the theatre’s story had been told to the very philanthropic city of Pasadena. The Playhouse had been founded by community members, but over the years had migrated to a focus solely on the quality of the works it produced. When he saw the success neighboring arts organization The Huntington Museum had had with their community buy-in approach, he knew it would be feasible to tap into that local connection.

His approach was to center community work in everything Pasadena Playhouse did. Whereas previously the theatre had held community events, it was always seen as “other.” Now, it was the focus. Half of this work was simply communicating their engagement efforts better — Danny would speak to various local clubs and organizations and share the initiatives the Playhouse was putting on. Then, they planned events such as a large block party, the message being: “this building is the community’s property, and we are its caretakers.”

This community focus even manifested itself in their work on stage. For instance, when the Playhouse produced “The Father” (now an award-winning film of the same name), they held community conversations with Alzheimer’s Los Angeles. Every time they do a piece of work they extend it as much as possible into the community — and this had a concrete result of philanthropy increasing.

Staffing a Community-Focused Organization

A question from our audience brought up the changes needed in the staffing and operations of an arts organization when taking this community-centered approach.

Tim shared that by rethinking the team structure at Shaw Festival Theatre — including investing in and reconstituting their development department under the charitable framework — they were able to eliminate a large deficit. This restructuring resulted in an increase from 460 to 600 employees. He also took time to rethink Tessitura and to start using it as a data framework and a way to help them decide on actions, like not asking a patron for a donation until their third or fourth visit and looking at how to serve their communities of patrons abroad.

He also started speaking more to the province and state about the Shaw Festival’s impact on the community and found that they drive millions in local financial impact — more than several other major local arts organizations. This led to a real conversation about how to help people find other ways to interact with the theatre that would help the larger region, a discussion that led them to develop events that allowed for audience debate around shows.

Tim anticipated that some of these more drastic changes towards a more communitarian approach might turn away some audiences. His estimate was 40,000 patrons — and he was correct. However, his second theory (that they would gain them back over three years) was off: the Shaw Festival actually saw 60,000 new audience members in the same year. More people began to become interested in their work through their heightened community involvement.

The approach at Pasadena Playhouse was slightly different. Danny explained that due to their budget challenges, they were forced to operate with a lean time. What they did in that case was refocus efforts, which included reshaping their school programs, putting their marketing team in charge of their centennial block party, and letting their staff with community connections leverage those for their stage performances. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort, but they pulled it off — and it was an essential moment for their donors, with three families stepping up after the centennial celebration with $1 million donations.

Engaging the Community During the Pandemic

When asked how COVID-19 closures have changed the way they think about community engagement, Danny explained that their pivot to digital could not have worked as well as it did if the Pasadena Playhouse had not done the community driven work before. Closing down just furthered the role of art in bringing people together. At the Playhouse, they thought of themselves as “second responders” during this time (which is why they stepped back a bit from fundraising during the pandemic) — the arts are how we sew our social fabric together after the first responders have stepped in.

At Shaw Festival Theatre, they have used this time to focus on their actors and including them in the organization’s education and administrative work. Tim has seen a real positive response to this approach, especially with the industry’s current precarity. They have also added a wellness initiative to their work on diversity, equity, & inclusion. This framework brings aspects of learning and self-care to their existing efforts and has been well-received. As he looks to the post-pandemic future, Tim sees the Shaw Festival on a path to embedding themselves in the local school system as part of their community connection.

Closing Advice

We asked both leaders to share a final word of advice to arts organizations thinking of taking up the community cause.

Tim shared his belief that cutting down is not always the means to success — sometimes it is best to invest. He realizes this can be hard when the money is not there, but investing in outreach and development can support in stabilizing finances and making these programs possible. A large part of that for him is setting a budget that gets the organization to break even; setting this realistic goal will help keep you grounded in accomplishing your objectives. 

Danny emphasized that pivoting has a cost to it, but that it was worth it. He has had to train his development team not to fear letting go when donors are not as invested in the community and are solely focused on benefits.

To learn more about how you can engage your community as an arts organization, check out our additional resources in our Community Engagement & Education Center.