NOVEMBER 1993
VOLUME I, ISSUE 3 / $5.00
PhiktithropyJournal
Growing pains
N.C. Museum of Art regroups after shakeup
A string of senior staff resignations and a
sluggish capital campaign have led staff
and board members at the North
Carolina Museum of Art to take stock of
the organizations’s long-term goals and
fundraising strategies. Observers say
the crisis holds lessons lor other non
profits, inciuding the need to carefully
define board roles and clearly communi
cate public missions.
By Barbara Solow
yy state-of-the-art computer pro^am
/\ that would give museum visitors
jLmX information about artworks at the
^ • touch of a button.
An outdoor amphitheater that would itself
be a work of art.
A museum viewed as the custodian of a col
lection for all North Carolina residents.
These are some of the goals that have gone
unfulfilled as the North Carolina Museum of Art
struggles with a leadership and
fundraising crisis.
Supporters and critics agree that
the 37-year-old museum is at a turn
ing point.
Faced with a series of senior staff
resignations — inclnding that of
musenm Director Richard
Schneiderman — and a stalled capi
tal campaign, the institution is taking
a hard look at its pro^ams and poli
cies.
Consnltants have been hired by
the state Department of Cnltural
Resources to review fundraising and
management practices at the muse
um, which receives two-thirds of its
operating money from the state.
But observers say the roots of the
problems go deeper, covering every
thing from the dismal state of arts
funding to the structure of the boards
that govern the museum.
The museum’s struggle to come
hat
we need to do
is move in the
direction that
citizens of the
state feel that
this is their
museum.
MARY “JO”
CRESMORE
N.C. Art Society
board member
to terms
with these issues contains lessons for
other nonprofits, including the need to
link management, pnblic outreach
and fundraising activities.
“It’s like cooking a stew,” says
William Anlyan Jr., who was develop
ment director at the museum from
1990 to 1992. “If you add the wrong
ingredient, it can ruin the whole
batch.”
LEADERSHIP
Former museum staff members
say the spark that lit the current
firestorm was Schneiderman’s deci
sion to handle fundraising after
Anlyan left tor a new job at the
University of North Carolina at
Wilmington.
The mnseum’s board of trustees
approved Schneiderman’s proposal to
take over the capital campaign for a $20,000
supplement to his $93,812 annual salary.
Mint
Museum in
Charlotte
maps
long-term
strategy.
Page 5
Soon after that, he hired
Anne Jones to assist with devel
opment — a decision that later
would breed resentment when
she reportedly did not mesh
with other senior staff mem
bers.
While some view Schneider
man’s decision to take on fund
raising as ego-driven, others see
it as the only way he could avoid
losing momentum in an already
faltering $20 million capital
drive, which to date has raised $1.7 million in
pledges.
Whatever the reasons, Schneiderman’s dual
responsibilities meant he had less time for day-
to-day management.
As a result, some former staff members say,
projects that did not touch on fundraising came
to a standstill.
For example, plans for an innovative com-
Look for ART, page 18
Rebuilding neighborhoods
Durham revival hinges
on inner-city cooperation
Faced with poverty, unem
ployment, crime and other
social problems, residents
of North-East Central
Durham have decided to
clean up their neighbor
hoods. Their strategy is to
work with one another and
with local organizations,
including the city, the
police, the schools, nonprof
its and universities.
By Todd Cohen
Churches have
become key players
in Durham's
neighborhoods.
"r he bleakest ueighbor-
/ hoods in one of North Carolina’s most
/ troubled big cities are finding that
urban decay can yield the seeds of community
rebirth.
The renaissance is being led by a coalition
of citizens, police, city government, social agen
cies, nonprofits, businesses and universities.
“Hope and aspiration is the key,” says com-
mnnity leader Willard Perry. “Everyone has
been pulled together at one time.”
Efforts to revive the social and economic
health of North-East Central Durham have
attracted the attention of the White House and
could become a model tor attacking the seem-
in^y insurmountable problems of America’s
inner-cities.
The underlying strategy, say residents and
specialists, is to involve the community in its
own revival and to provide incentives for busi
ness investment and for residents to
take control of their own fate.
“Individuals have to see that
there’s something they can achieve,
that there’s an end result,” says
Beverly Jones, coordinator for com
munity outreach projects at N.C.
CentrM University and a member of
the Durham Public School Board.
At the heart of Durham’s rebirth
is the mutual embrace of people and
organizations that historically have
operated on their own. That isola
tion changed a year ago, when com
munity leaders in Durham were
pulled together by the prospect of a
$300,000 state grant to help rid their
streets of drugs and crime.
“We didn’t get the grant,” says Perry, a 60-
year-old retired electrical maintenance
mechanic who is co-chairman of North-East
Central Durham Partners Against Crime. “But
we didn’t let that stop us. We just kept on build
ing the nei^borhood.”
City officials already had been planning an
assault on Durham’s mounting social problems.
Seeing the flowering of the effort in the seven
nei^borhoods of North-East Central Durham,
officials decided to begin their offensive in that
96-block area.
“In the past, government said, ‘We know
what’s best,”’ says Cecil Brown, senior assistant
city manager. “Now, citizens say, ‘Collectively,
we can do it.’”
Look for DURHAM, page 20
Willard Perry, right, says neighborhood
spirit will return
to North-East Central Durham
to better times.
Photos by John Fletcher Jr.
Community giving
Bank charity,
’worth millions,
draws fire
North Carolina banks have purchased
dozens of savings and loans in recent
years. As part of the deals, the banks
have contributed to local charities.
Banking industry officials say the chari
ty reflects the corporate citizenship of
the banks and the S&Ls they’re buying.
Critics say the charity is designed to
help win approval of the purchases.
By Todd Cohen
The purchase by North Carolina banks of
Tar Heel savings and loans in recent years
has begotten millions of dollars in new com
munity charity.
While no one questions the importance or
legality of those charitable dollars, questions
are being raised about other aspects of the
purchase deals.
A handful of banks in the state have been
on a buying binge, snapping up savings and
loan institutions. In negotiating many of the
deals, banks typically have agreed to set up
community foundations or make contributions
to local charities.
Those contributions have totaled an esti
mated $10 million to $15 million.
Industry officials and regulators say the
banks make charitable gifts because improv
ing the community is good for business, and
because they want to acknowledge the com
munity support that helped build the local S&L
Look for BANK, page 13
Careers 22
Connections 3
Corporate Giving 12
Fund Raising 14
Grants and Gifts 17
In November 16
Job Opportunities 20
Opinion 10
People 17
R.S.V.R 16
Professional Sen/ices...19
Technology 3
1 NONPROFITS
1 VOLUNTEERS
1 “ FUND RAISING
Sector leaders
Volunteers create
Parent groups
worry about image
their own nonprofit
learn new tricks
More than 700 nonprofit
A group of Winston-Salem
PTAs face a big challenge
leaders gathered in
volunteers saw problems in
in trying to raise dollars to
October at the annual
their community that needed to
help pay for the resources
conference of the
be met. So they started a non-
their schools needs.
Independent Sector.
profit. The all-volunteer group
Chocolate and wrapping
On their mind was the need
is making a difference.
paper alone won't cut it
to be held accountable.
any more.
• Page 4
• Page 8
• Page 14
L
FOUNDATIONS^^
Kenan Trust
targets illiteracy
With funding from the
Kenan Trust in Chapel
Hill, a Louisvillle non-profit
is teaching families how to
read. The National Family
Literacy Center has
become a national model.
• Page 6