An Artistic Legacy: The Role of Family Philanthropy in Supporting the Arts

Financial Support to the arts and culture in the United States comes from a variety of private and public sources in the United States.  Of these souces, family foundations have played a significant role in supporting the artistic endeavors of nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists. In addition to making decisions about resource allocation, family foundations must also consider their philanthropic legacy as subsequent generations are called to board service. Funding to the arts and culture, and the nonprofit sector as a whloe, by family foundations will be affected by economic and demographic shifts occurring in the near future. It will be imperative for arts administrators to be knowledgeable about these changes and flexible in their approach to fundraising to work in concert with potential donors.