​​

When artist Jackie Battenfield decided she wanted to write a book, she did what many artists don’t do: She made a budget for how much her project was going to cost her to produce. “Most artists don’t want to know how much it costs them to make their art,” she said. But Battenfield knew that a book was a huge undertaking and that the project would take her away from her art studio and the work that earned her money.

So she sat down and asked, What will it really cost me to write this book? What kind of resources do I need? And she didn’t scrimp on her budget. Even though she knew that her publisher would provide an advance against future royalties, she knew that advance was unlikely to pay her adequately to research and write the book. In addition, she wanted to hire an assistant to transcribe interviews and help assemble all the images she planned to include. And because Battenfield is not a writer, she knew she would need a professional editor to review her manuscript before she submitted it to her publisher.

​Battenfield knew that if she looked at the actual numbers, she’d be likely to think more resourcefully about how to get her book published. So, she did a budget including everything she wanted “It was a lot of money,” she said. “It was scary—$80,000.”

Once she had the number, she wasn’t paralyzed, she was free—free to be creative about how to earn the money to support her project. Before the book was finished, she hosted a fundraising dinner where guests paid $25 per person to support the project. She arranged to have the New York Foundation for the Arts act as her fiscal sponsor, which made her eligible for more types of grants. She researched which foundations were interested in supporting a project on the subject of career advancement for artists.

In the end, Battenfield raised $50,000, mostly from two foundations: the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. Her book, The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love, was published in 2009.

What if your project will cost a scary amount of money—more than one or two small grants could supply? You can find a fiscal sponsor and do your own fundraising from individual donors.

Find a Fiscal Sponsor

Check out this sobering reality: Individual artists aren’t eligible for most grants. According to The Foundation Center, less than 10% of foundations and very few government agencies even consider proposals from individuals without “institutional affiliation.” In other words, most grants go to nonprofit organizations.

To make matters worse, grants available to individuals are usually small—a $1,500 professional development grant or a $6,000 project grant, for example. This is fine if you have a small project or use several grants to fund a medium-sized one. But what if you have a big project in mind? Filmmakers, for instance, often need to raise scary amounts of money. How do you get access to these larger amounts?

One way is to become a nonprofit organization, which means applying to the Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)3 status. But this ​process is time-consuming, has associated costs, and might not fit your mission.

Another option is to find an established nonprofit organization—one that has 501(c)3 designation—willing to take your project under its umbrella and act as your fiscal sponsor, allowing you to apply for grants earmarked for nonprofit organizations. For a small fee, the fiscal sponsor functions as an intermediary between you and your grantor(s) and collects money for you. Its incentive relates to its mission in the world, which may be to help artists or may relate directly to the theme of the project you propose.

Even with the sponsor, you still have to apply for grants and plan and implement your own fundraising campaign. However, some sponsors, such as the New York Foundation for the Arts, will consult with you on fundraising and proposal writing and provide other assistance. The sponsor is legally and financially responsible for ensuring that you comply with all of the terms of any grants that you receive.

Besides giving you access to a greater number of grants and larger grants, having a fiscal sponsor has several benefits.

​What’s the Catch?

There are a few downsides to working with a fiscal sponsor.

A sponsor takes a small percentage of the funds you raise to pay for the administrative costs of handling your donations. This fee usually ranges from 5% to 9% plus application fees and yearly contract renewal fees that range from $40 to $50.

If you’re raising money only from individuals donating small amounts, it might not be worth the effort to get a fiscal sponsor because your donors won’t get much benefit from the tax deduction.

Not all funders will work with a fiscal sponsor, but funders usually make this stipulation clear in their guidelines. If you’re unsure, ask.

Sometimes grantors will deny a grant request if the sponsor’s mission is outside the grantor’s funding priorities. For example, if an environmental organization is your fiscal sponsor, a grantor who gives money to the arts but not to environmental causes might reject your application based on that criterion alone.

Beware of a contract with a fiscal sponsor whose fine print takes away your creative control over your project. I’ve heard of artists who inadvertently gave away their rights to their work. Ensure that all creative control of the project and copyright remain with you.

Where to Find a Sponsor

Technically, any nonprofit with 501(c)3 status can be your fiscal sponsor. Find one you trust that has experience as a fiscal sponsor—especially with individual artists—and is related to your subject matter. Procuring a sponsor usually involves submitting an application that can be as involved as a grant application, but this is a good thing. Like any proposal, this application helps you further clarify your project.

Several national organizations specialize in fiscal sponsorship for artists; four are highlighted below, along with associated costs (which are deducted from money raised for the project).

​DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP ·
www.dancetheaterworkshop.org/programs/fiscal_sponsorship/faqs [inactive]

SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY ·
www.sffs.org/Filmmaker-Services/Fiscal-Sponsorship.aspx [inactive]

NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS (NYFA) ·
http://www.artspire.com

FRACTURED ATLAS ·
www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal [inactive]

The Fiscal Sponsor Directory (www.fiscalsponsordirectory.org) is maintained by the San Francisco Study Center and helps connect projects with fiscal sponsors. The website includes a resource list and searchable database.

For overachievers who crave the details of various types of fiscal sponsorship arrangements, see Gregory L. Colvin’s book, Fiscal Sponsorship: 6 Ways to Do It Right. San Francisco: Study Center Press, 2005. The 1993 first edition is identical to the 2005 second edition except for a new, extended postscript.

Weigh In

To determine whether fiscal sponsorship is a good option, weigh the pros and cons for you and your project. Your lists might look like this:

PROS

CONS

​The benefit to sponsors is association with projects they believe in and that help them fulfill their missions. Even better, they’re affiliated with projects without having to do any actual work. (That’s your job.) The best fiscal sponsor relationships are a win–win for both the individual artist and the organization.

Raise Your Own Money

Doing your own fundraising is the most fun, personal, and terrifying way to raise money. It also has the potential to raise more money, much faster than grant writing. So, like most things in life, that carry the most personal risk, it also has the biggest potential payoff. This type of fundraising is not for the faint of heart but don’t let that stop you.

By doing your own fundraising, I mean throwing fundraising house parties, sending solicitation letters, and asking for money from individual people in a hundred other ways. Each contribution may be small, but the total sum may provide you with more money than a grant while making your grant application more competitive (because it shows income from varied sources).

Morrie Warshawski, author of Shaking the Money Tree, is a big proponent of soliciting donations from individuals, which he encourages his clients to consider. He shared the following benefits of do-it-yourself fundraising:

The only funder who’ll be with you for the life of your work is the individual funder. This means that the effort you make now is well worth it in the long run. “If an individual gives you a dollar this week, and you stay in touch with them and treat them well, the next time they’ll give you two dollars, and three years from now they’ll give you four dollars. They’re going to be with you a long time. That’s something you cannot say about any other type of funder,” said Warshawski.

In contrast, “If you get one or two grants from a foundation, you’re lucky. Then they’re gone because they’ve changed their mission, their focus, they’re looking for other people to fund, they want to spread the bucks,” he said. Because many grant applications now require an explanation of how the project will continue without grant funding, the applicant needs to come up with a plan, regardless.

Fundraising Cures Isolation

Another huge benefit of raising money from individuals is that the fundraising itself drives you out of the seclusion of the editing suite, painting studio, or writing room and into the throngs of humanity. Showing up in the world helps you build a community of fans and supporters—a must for any successful art career. This act alone can be very inspiring to your work.

Because the funder is not distant but personal, you feel an obligation to the individual people who’ve donated to your project. Fundraising from individuals also has the psychological benefit of putting you, the artist, in the driver’s seat. Rather than passively waiting months to hear if the grant panel funded your project, you’re in motion—promoting ​your project and drumming up support. You haven’t put the fate of your project in someone else’s hands.

Money Attracts Money

Even if you still apply for grants, raising even a few hundred dollars from individuals shows the funder that people believe in you and will pay to support your work. It shows chutzpah and determination—qualities that funders will find irresistible.

“But might this turn off some donors?” some newbie grant writers ask. “Don’t they want to give money to an artist who really needs it? Who’s a little desperate and has no other options?”

No! Funders, like anyone else, like to donate to projects that clearly are going to succeed. Nothing impresses more than an applicant’s resourcefulness and creativity in fundraising. They want to see your commitment. Donors like to give money to people who are already working their asses off. Not people sitting around being needy.

Also, most funders don’t want to be the only one paying for your project. They like to see that you have other means of earning money and soliciting donations. Your own fundraising proves that you believe in your project enough to stick your neck out.

“Any time you ask somebody for money, they’re going to ask who else is invested,” said Helen Daltoso of the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) of Portland, Oregon. “And it’s not as if RACC doesn’t want to be the first one, but oftentimes we’re the only one. But if I know that other artists are invested in you or that you’ve got friends who are invested in you or that you’ve got a couple of businesses invested in you, then all of a sudden you look valuable.”

​Even if you raise only $300 from your fundraising efforts, that $300 could make your application more competitive in the eyes of the funder, distinguishing you from another applicant who didn’t raise any money. If two applications are equal in every other way, you win because of that one effort.

“From my perspective, I don’t care about the amount of money. If you tell me you’re going to send a letter to 150 people and you think you can get 100 bucks out of that, I’m excited. Individuals, friends, and family don’t have a lot of money, but if you’ve never asked them before or if they’ve supported your work through ticket sales, who’s to say they won’t support your work through a direct donation?” said Daltoso.

It’s Always Personal

The upside of fundraising from individuals is that it’s personal, and that’s the downside, too. Writing a grant application is “clean”—you fill out a form, mail it in, and wait by the mailbox for the answer from on high—it won’t make you feel as vulnerable as asking your friends and colleagues to donate to your project. But don’t be lulled into thinking that more impersonal fundraising is easier. The most successful fundraising is always personal. People give to people at all levels of philanthropy. Successful grant applicants get to know their funders and present their projects in the most personal way, whether that person is your neighbor donating $10 or a panel deciding to donate thousands.

The Power of Individual Donors

Individuals donate more money to charity than foundations and corporations put together. In 2008, $307 billion in private money was donated to nonprofits, according to the Giving USA Foundation. Of this amount, only 13% came from foundations and 5% from corporations. A whopping 75% came from individuals and 7% from bequests (which is money that people leave in a will). That means that 82% of total private donations came from individuals.

​But my friends aren’t rich, you might be thinking. Don’t assume that your friends have to have last names like Carnegie or Rockefeller to make a donation. The Smiths and Joneses of the world donate as much as all the Rockefellers put together. More than one-half of that 84% of individual donations came from middle-class, working-class, and low-income households. And according to the latest figures form the National Endowment for the Arts, individuals donate $13.5 billion a year to the arts, culture, and humanities. That breaks down to $45 from each individual in the United States.

Of course, asking for money isn’t easy. Yet, people who know you are much more likely to give you money than people who don’t know you. Put yourself in your friend’s shoes: Are you more likely to write a check for $25 to a friend whose work you admire or a stranger whose work you admire? I say it’s the friend. It feels good to help someone you know and whose work you love.

Remember: People won’t donate if they don’t want to or can’t afford to. Think of your asking as an invitation they are free to accept or decline.

Throw Your Own Fundraiser

There are many good ways for an artist to throw a fundraiser. Two favorites are studio parties and house parties.

Studio Fundraiser

When fine artist Phil Sylvester wanted to renovate the studio where he teaches and works with his wife, visual artist Joan Findlay, they threw a fundraising party in their studio. They invited Sylvester’s students as well as their patrons, friends, colleagues, and many acquaintances.

The first step was meticulous planning, which included writing a charming and humorous invitation that made the party sound like a good time and described all the ways one could contribute. (See the “Drawing Studio Fundraiser” section to follow.) Fifty of Sylvester’s students donated paintings or drawings to be sold for $40 each.

​At the four-hour open house, attendees purchased student art, T-shirts, and Sylvester’s and Findlay’s art; entered raffles to win classes or artwork; drank wine and ate cheese; and listened to the couple jam, with Sylvester on guitar and Findlay on drums.

By the end of the evening, The Drawing Studio had raised $8,000. Sylvester credits his success to having been around long enough to have a 1,200-person invitation list. Donations ranged from $5 to $50, with people donating an average of $40 each. Sylvester’s expenses included invitations and postage, printing T-shirts, and refreshments. He enlisted volunteers to sell raffle tickets, pour wine, and sell merchandise.

House Party

In 2009, Licia Perea, dancer and choreographer as well as head of the Latina Dance Project, won a $4,000 matching grant from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. The money, which she had ​to match dollar for dollar, paid for choreographers, original music, costumes, and sets to create a new dance theater piece. To raise the $4,000 needed to match the grant, Perea and her three collaborators decided to throw a fundraising house party. To plan the party, they read Morrie Warshawski’s The Fundraising Houseparty: How to Party with a Purpose and Raise Money for Your Cause.

A colleague of Perea’s offered her backyard for the June event. Perea and her host invited 150 people total. Although Warshawski suggests snail mail invitations, Perea sent invites via e-mail. Her party invitation asked everyone to contribute, even if they couldn’t attend, and announced a $25 entrance fee.

Forty people showed up to the party, which lasted about ninety minutes. Perea talked about her new piece of work, the company presented a fifteen-minute live performance of the new dance, and one of her board members made a concise and passionate “ask” for additional contributions.

In the end, almost one-half of the attendees contributed more than the $25 entrance fee. Donations ranged from an additional $40 to $1,000. Including donations sent by mail or through her website before and after the party, Perea raised $3,600. Because many people who couldn’t attend the party still contributed, the event served a dual purpose: it was both a direct-mail solicitation and a fundraising house party.

To ensure your house party is successful, make it an event people want to attend and be clear in your invitation that it’s a fundraiser. This ensures that everybody attending is open to making a donation. Ideally, you’ll have the party at an enticing location that relates to your project. At a minimum, have it at someone else’s home besides your own.

In The Fundraising Houseparty, Warshawski offers step-by-step instructions for throwing a successful fundraiser in a home. At the event, you (the artist) make a brief presentation, and a host or peer—“someone articulate, enthusiastic, and respected”—asks everyone to make a contribution.

​A house party will catapult your career forward. It will show you just how many people support you and your work. Will you feel uncomfortable? Of course. If you don’t feel a little uncomfortable, then you haven’t taken a big enough risk.

Ask in Writing

Several years ago, I wanted to attend an expensive workshop taught by Spalding Gray. I was performing autobiographical monologues and longed to study with the “granddaddy” of the confessional solo performance. To finance the trip, I applied for a professional development grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

I heard the competition was stiff and I wanted my application to stand out. Showing that I had raised some money on my own would make my application more appealing to my potential funder. They would see how much I wanted to go and how many others believed I should go, too. The amount of money I raised would be the proof. I also thought that because my colleagues and family might have heard of Spalding Gray, they might be excited about funding my study with him.

It took many drafts to polish my request letter, which I sent to about seventy friends, family, and colleagues who I thought would be excited to support my work. (See my January 9 letter on this page.) I printed the letters, addressed the envelopes, attached a commemorative stamp to each one, and walked nervously to the mailbox outside my local Safeway. After I heard the envelopes thud at the bottom of the metal box, I wanted to stick my arm down the slot and grab them all back.

When I arrived home, I logged onto my computer and discovered, within minutes of my mailing those letters, that Gray had been reported missing. By the time my letters arrived in people’s mailboxes, Gray was presumed dead.

I was devastated. Not only had I lost one of my favorite artists, but I was cringing from what I assumed was a misguided fundraising effort that had taken so much courage to launch.

​As it turned out, many people sent me money anyway, trusting that I’d find another workshop. For weeks after I’d mailed those letters, I opened my mailbox to find notes with checks in them written out to me. It was thrilling! I’d asked for donations ranging from $10 to $50. The smallest donation I received was for $20, and several were for $50.

In the end, I raised $350, which I used to attend a workshop with voice teacher Richard Armstrong at the Banff Center for the Arts. It was the best workshop experience I ever had, financed by me, my community of support (See my September 20 thank-you letter on this page), and a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Creative Fundraising

Fundraising strategies do not end with house parties and solicitation letters. Ideas for how to fundraise are as limitless as your imagination. Artist and professor Karen Atkinson has conducted, by her own admission, many “oddball” fundraisers over the course of her thirty-year career.

One project, titled For the Time Being, involved twenty parking meters set up in site-specific locations all over Los Angeles. Bystanders encouraged by the brightly painted meters paid twenty-five cents to listen to fifteen minutes of “audio art” that played from cassette recorders Atkinson installed at the base of each meter.

“I collected one quarter at a time and raised $10,000,” said Atkinson, who teaches at Cal Arts and runs GYST to help artists succeed at the business of art. The original project was funded with a grant from Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, and the money she raised from the meters helped finance a last show for artists with AIDS. So her project combined grant money and her own fundraising while generating funds to finance future projects.

Websites like www.kickstarter.com provide ways for you to take your fundraising to the Internet. For more ideas, read the excerpt from Atkinson’s newsletter detailing the many variations of fundraising ideas and events, Fundraising Without Grants, which follows.

Believe in Yourself

Fundraising forces you to believe in your project enough that you’re willing to ask others to help you create it. This process makes you clarify your project, consider your audience, and create the highest quality work. You need to do these things anyway, so fundraising speeds a process that’s already under way. It can be scary, but no scarier than showing up at the writing desk, art studio, or empty stage. You found the courage to be an artist, summon the courage to finance your artistic vision.

Put on your party hat! Brainstorm creative ways to invite people to invest in your work and your future as an artist. What ideas would be most fun and energizing for you to implement? What fundraising strategies make a perfect match for the project and for your capabilities? What are you waiting for? Go make money.

​