Arts, Culture & Humanities

The bucket of ice that sparked a viral social-media campaign has a new home at the Smithsonian. The National Museum of American History is opening a new exhibit on the history of philanthropy on Tuesday. A showcase item will be the blue bucket that was used to dump ice water onto Jeanette Senerchia in 2014.…

While this election was a crazy one and we may all be rather sick of it at this point, we visitor-serving organizations would be remiss not to pause and take inventory of the lessons that we can learn from the 2016 presidential election. While Trump’s rhetoric and viewpoints may make parents wish that those memory-zapping…

There’s a good amount of information here on Know Your Own Bone that has accumulated through the course of this lil’ corner of the internet’s existence! I recently wrote a compilation post on some of the more important points regarding engaging Millennials within cultural organizations. I also recently found myself in a meeting taking on…

Every movement needs a spokesperson, and the school of "effective altruism," which argues that the most meaningful metric for weighing the value of a philanthropic gift is "lives saved per dollar" is no exception. We see this argument played out frequently in the arts world, where effective altruists will ask, "How many lives does the…

We’ve devoted plenty of coverage to corporate philanthropy: what it means for the sector, ways nonprofits can get a slice of the pie, the goings-on at major corporate foundations, etc. And we’ve also warned of corporate philanthropy’s downsides, particularly the dangers of accepting donations from companies with spotty reputations. But now, there might be another aspect to consider: quantity...

This past weekend, noted arts writer and critic Ben Davis wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times about the recent spate of museum expansions, and what they might mean for American culture and philanthropy. In the piece, Davis speaks about the way American arts institutions fund their activities. In short, more than any…

Yesterday, we looked at three ways nonprofits are hopping aboard the "Pokemon Go" train in a quest to be the very best, like no one ever was (at attracting donors and raising some funds). And while many organizations have embraced the game and its players in creative ways, it turns out it might not be a good fit for every nonprofit. For example, the Holocaust Museum...

With an estimated 7.5 million U.S. downloads of "Pokémon Go," that is a whole lot of people who are getting outside, discovering new areas and meeting new faces. So how can your nonprofit use this rocketing app to its benefit? Beth Kanter rounded up a great collection of how nonprofits have been using the game to their advantage. Here’s what we took away from their efforts...

"Hamilton" is a success by any metric. The numbers speak for themselves: a record-breaking 16 Tony Award nominations; reported box office profits of $600,000 a week; 215 million combined plays of the "Hamilton" soundtrack on Spotify (and counting—I'm personally adding several dozen a week); seemingly endless fan posts on Tumblr; and a resale ticket market…

Music legend Prince has passed away, leaving a massive hole in music and the lives of people around the world. As well as being a legend in the pop world, Prince was known as a generous and kind man. In 2007, he launched his 3121 fragrance with a concert and 24 hours of charity fundraising,…