Iowa Cultural Trust

Iowa Cultural Trust Workshops Registration Form, May 19-22

Iowa's cultural organizations are essential in the New Economy

Iowa must invest in its cultural organizations in order to increase their financial stability, compete with other states that recognize the high-impact economic development role of culture, stimulate and leverage private investment in cultural institutions, secure Vision Iowa's investment in culture vertical infrastructure and position Iowa as a cultural leader.

 

Cultural organizations generate billions of dollars in economic activity.

They attract people to live and work in Iowa communities.

They are a magnet for tourists.

They are a catalyst for downtown revitalization.

They train minds for the creative economy jobs of the future, and provide opportunities for lifelong learning.

They build social capital.

 

Iowa's cultural organizations are fuel for the New Economy. In order to survive and thrive, they require contributed financial support. Fundraising for nonprofit organizations in Iowa is becoming a growing challenge. The trend that is turning corporate home offices into branch offices undermines the community commitment of CEOs who invested in Iowa cultural organizations for their own cultural enrichment, but who now live in other states or even in other countries.

 

There is a growing competition for corporate investment in Iowa's cultural organizations. The matching requirements of Iowa's Vision and CAT granting programs are tapping fixed corporate funding pools, pools on which existing cultural organizations have long relied. Even after the capital investment in new Vision projects is complete there will be an ongoing demand for operating funding.

 

Operating funds are the most difficult dollars to raise. Special projects, exhibits, performances and programs are highly marketable to funders, but far fewer companies or individuals get the same satisfaction out of keeping the lights on, maintaining the building or paying the staff.

 

Iowa's cultural organizations got the same one-two punch that hit business and state revenues. The economic downturn affects the stock portfolios of donors, and the disposable income of ticket purchasers. The events of September 11 have triggered an unprecedented outpouring of contributions for victims in New York and Washington, D.C. There is now new concern about the ability of nonprofits to compete for the contributed dollar in the crucial year-end fundraising season, according to New York's Foundation Center, an independent clearing house for data on charitable giving.

 

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