Communities
Regional and National Capacity Building Intensives
Since 2001, the DeVos Institute’s capacity building programs for managers and their boards have served more than 600 organizations in diverse communities throughout the United States and around the world.
The DeVos Institute’s senior leadership undertakes a rigorous exploratory phase when considering where to seek support and partners for a program. The Institute is primarily interested in “tipping-point” communities: areas where the environment is changing enough to encourage bold thinking, cross-sector collaboration, and organizational change.
For example, the Institute began work in Detroit in 2009, focusing on strategies to replace lost revenue when the “Big Three” auto manufacturers ceased their philanthropic efforts almost overnight. Not one of 52 participating organizations collapsed during that trying period: Several “right-sized” or merged, some re-focused their mission, and many flourished. Furthermore, the Institute’s work in Miami provided support during a period of unprecedented demographic change, the loss of several major corporate partners, and dramatic fluctuations in state-level spending on the arts.
No community is the same, but many share similar challenges. Therefore, the Institute’s approach blends universal best practices and rigorous localization.
For each program, the Institute combines core arts management training—principles that influence the sustainability of any arts organization worldwide—with subject-specific master-classes and one-on-one consultations tailored to the specific conditions faced by the local community. The DeVos Institute relies on extensive research and close collaboration with local partners to achieve this balance.
These two-year group intensives provide in-depth training and consultation to a cohort of arts organizations in a city or region. They combine in-person group training, web-based master classes, and one-on-one onsite consultation with each participating organization. These intensives address such critical topics as artistic planning, programmatic and institutional marketing, fundraising, board development, financial planning, strategic planning, technology management, and audience development.
The DeVos Institute has previously offered Capacity Building Intensives in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Greater San Jose, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Oregon, Orlando, and San Francisco as well as in Croatia, Vietnam, Trinidad & Tobago, and throughout England.
The DeVos Institute also led a six-year partnership with the Ford Foundation to provide intensive support to 27 organizations across the United States. These include four Native American communities, national service provider networks, and a wide array of community-based organizations working at the intersection of social justice and artistic practice.
Recent Programs
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Capacity Building: Grand Rapids
About the Program
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, in partnership with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, is pleased to announce Capacity Building: Grand Rapids, a two-year technical assistance and strategic planning intensive for up to 15 non-profit arts and cultural organizations throughout greater Grand Rapids and surrounding towns.
The program will begin in January 2025, and is fully underwritten by the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.
The arts and culture sector is changing rapidly, but certain fundamentals remain: all organizations require highly distinctive programming, vigorous marketing campaigns, strong boards, and a robust family of donors, members, and funders.
Though these elements may seem straightforward, they can be challenging to develop and sustain.
This is the key role of this program: to assist participating organizations in their efforts to develop consensus on mission, vision, and values and to put in place simple, effective, and right-sized strategies to execute in each of these essential areas of practice.
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Capacity Building: Central Florida
The DeVos Family Foundation, in partnership with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland, is pleased to announce Capacity Building: Central Florida, a two-year technical assistance and strategic planning intensive for up to 20 arts and cultural organizations throughout Orange, Lake, Osceola, and Seminole counties.
The program will begin in March 2024, and is fully underwritten by the DeVos Family Foundation.
The arts and culture sector is changing rapidly, but certain fundamentals remain: all organizations require highly distinctive programming, vigorous marketing campaigns, strong boards, and a robust family of donors, members, and funders.
These essentials, however obvious, can be difficult to assemble and maintain.
This is the key role of this program: to assist participating organizations in their efforts to develop consensus on mission, vision, and values and to put in place simple, effective, and right-sized strategies to execute in each of these essential areas of practice.
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Capacity Building: Michigan Lakeshore
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, in partnership with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland, is pleased to announce Capacity Building: Michigan Lakeshore, a two-year technical assistance and planning intensive for up to 15 arts and cultural organizations throughout Holland, MI and the Michigan Lakeshore.
The program will begin in Fall 2022, and is fully underwritten by the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.
The arts and culture sector is changing rapidly, but certain fundamentals remain: all organizations require highly distinctive programming, vigorous marketing campaigns, strong boards, and a robust family of donors, members, and funders.
These essentials, however obvious, can be difficult to assemble and maintain.
This is the key role of this program: to assist participating organizations in their efforts to develop consensus on mission, vision, and values and to put in place simple, effective, and right-sized strategies to execute in each of these essential areas of practice.
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