Community Foundations for Just Communities
Huáscar Robles, 2023 GIA Conference Blog
An animated and necessary conversation among organizers and participants organically developed during the Communities Foundations for Just Communities forum that took place on Tuesday morning. Several topics weighed deeply on members’ shoulders, and this became a space to share and, perhaps, heal.
The conversation was led by Sharon DeMark from the St. Paul Minnesota Foundation. As quickly as everyone sat down, the topics that orbit community-based organizations began to stream.
An overarching theme of not just this forum but the whole conference has been unity, working in tandem, and, at this session, a participant aptly pointed out the need for a unifying language since philanthropy terminology is freely interpreted across geographies. “Don’t call me a funder,” one participant insisted.
Another topic that has crisscrossed the GIA conference is donor profiles. A member asked the group, ‘what does a donor even look like?’ This echoed the sentiment of Anasa Troutman, from the Historic Clayborn Church, in Monday’s “I Was Told There Would be No Math” session. One participant asked to look at the next generation of donors. “Jake Paul has a lot of money,” the participant said about the influencer who lives in Puerto Rico as a potential profile of a donor.
A voice that resonated with the room was an elder who has seen 47 years of changes across the art world. “We’ve seen wealth change, but it falls into the models that don’t work. Our art is not luxury. Our art comes from resistance and survival. We need donors that want to impact social justice.”
Then, an idea was thrown in the mix. What if a new model was created? What if the galleries, intuitions, and agencies were bypassed? What if local community organizations bought the art?
“What if a new model was created? What if the galleries, intuitions, and agencies were bypassed? What if local community organizations bought the art?”
The loaded question percolated in the audience. For new models to emerge, wealth has to be distributed differently, and that, in this economic climate, is a lofty goal, but one that perhaps the community organizations that work directly with those impacted may be able to define better than anyone else.
