posted on: Friday, March 13, 2009

By Aaron Dorfman

The L.A. Times reported Monday that Michael Eisner made a $1.25 million gift to the California Institute of the Arts from his family foundation.

NCRP’s critics are likely expecting me to ask why in the world Mr. Eisner is supporting the arts when he should be supporting anti-poverty efforts.

But I’m not going to criticize his gift. In fact, I want to praise him for it. His gift is a perfect example of how foundations can simultaneously promote the causes they care about (in this case, the arts) and benefit marginalized communities.

The grant is for bringing arts instruction to Los Angeles schoolchildren, most of whom are from low-income families.

There’s no telling whether or not Mr. Eisner has seen NCRP’s latest report, but this is exactly the kind of creative thinking we hoped to inspire when we published our Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best and called for foundations to dedicate at least 50 percent of their grant dollars for the intended benefit of economically and socially disadvantaged groups. If you’re an arts funder, we’re not saying you should start funding social services for the poor. We are saying you should look for ways to include underserved communities in your grantmaking, within the context of your mission.

You can read more about philanthropic support for vulnerable members of our society in Chapter 1 of Criteria, available for free at www.ncrp.org/paib.

Do you know of other arts-focused foundations that have used creative grantmaking to bring the arts to lower-income and other socially disadvantaged groups? Please share the story!