Arts Funders Forum

Sean McManus is co-founder of Arts Funders Forum (AFF) and co-founder of M+D, a global advisory that guides influential media outlets, technology companies, foundations, and global brands on communications strategy, interactive content development, partnerships, and international policy. Sean was previously a managing director at Quartz and director of programs at The Economist. 

Melissa Cowley Wolf is the executive director of AFF and founder of MCW Projects, an advisory dedicated to expanding the next generation of cultural philanthropists, advocates, and audiences. Melissa guides organizations on philanthropic strategies and executes cross-sector partnerships to advocate for increased support of the arts. Melissa has over 20 years of experience in philanthropy and programming for cultural institutions across the United States. 

AFF is responding to a triple threat to arts funding during a critical moment in philanthropy. Public support of the arts is declining, as is per capita private giving to the arts. What's more, the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history is imminent, but the rising generation of philanthropists are not prioritizing giving to the arts.  

AFF is developing a platform to increase private support for the arts through three primary channels: 

• advocacy through digital storytelling
• funding model innovation through live and virtual events
• ongoing research to understand evolving trends in cultural philanthropy

AFF seeks to elevate humanity by increasing private funding for arts and culture in the United States and to making arts philanthropy more equitable and inclusive. It does so by enabling more social-impact driven models of cultural philanthropy among next-generation philanthropists. 

AFF’s 2019 research study, which surveyed leaders across the cultural sector, revealed that institutions are experiencing a crisis of relevance driven by a lack of engagement with the arts among the rising generation. This coincides with a decades-long political environment that is antagonistic to public arts funding. Seventy-eight percent of the AFF community said they are concerned about the future of arts funding. 

COVID-19 has accelerated this crisis: some 95% of artists experienced income loss as a result of the pandemic. In April 2020, Americans for the Arts found that nearly two-thirds of artists from a representative sample were unemployed as a result of COVID-19. A survey of museum professionals conducted by the International Council of Museums noted that nearly 83% of respondents anticipate a reduction in museum programs, and some 30% say they expect a reduction in staff. 

AFF research shows that the emerging class of philanthropists views giving differently than previous generations. For example, this community views cultural philanthropy through the lens of social justice and social impact. They express urgency towards supporting historically marginalized communities, and view giving as more "process driven" than "transaction driven”, meaning “how” they give is just as important as “what” they give. 

AFF is a multichannel platform dedicated to increasing next-generation engagement with arts and culture and increasing private giving to the arts. We do this through four practice areas:

1. Research and data
2. Events and convenings (live and virtual)
3. Advocacy and narrative storytelling
4. Thought leadership and editorial content  

In 2019, AFF conducted a research study on the landscape of cultural philanthropy and uncovered trends in arts giving among a community of 3,500+ art funders, social investors, cultural influencers, heads of arts institutions, and cultural experts. We asked them about new frameworks for giving, new ways to measure impact, and what topics they care about most. Based on survey responses, and numerous in depth one-on-one interviews, we analyzed this data and used it to develop AFF’s pillars: next-generation funding behaviors; partnerships and collaborations; new funding models; the role of technology in the arts; transparency and metrics; art for social justice. 

Our project serves the cultural community broadly, including artists, cultural institutions (especially those in underserved communities), and cultural innovators who are working to advance social justice through the arts. 

We do this by developing our community of next-generation cultural philanthropists who have the resources and affinity to support art that elevates communities and societies.   

Our research programs provide insight into ways next-generation cultural and philanthropic leaders can better encourage funding systems that are more inclusive, democratic, and equitable, and engage those who feel traditionally excluded from the cultural sector. Our philanthropic partners also provide insights into the specific needs of artists, underserved institutions, and the wider cultural community.

The impending transfer of wealth provides an extraordinary opportunity to reorient arts funding towards social justice and reshape the narrative about the value of the arts to communities and society. 

AFF’s project most closely aligns with dimension 2, but it is also relevant to dimensions 1 and 3. 

By engaging emerging philanthropists as well as artists, activists, and institutions, we see ourselves as change agents—evolving the way people see themselves in the context of arts giving. By looking at new and diverse donors, AFF is also creating opportunities among those who have been previously overlooked and have potential to drive real change.

A Group of friends and colleagues who care deeply about the arts were in Miami in 2018 talking about the news that President Trump had proposed abolishing the National Endowment for the Arts. We asked ourselves, “What would it take for private donors to step up and fill the void left by a non-existent NEA?" We began exploring all the different functions of the NEA as well as trends in private arts giving. We realized private arts giving was in steep decline.  

Seeing no existing platforms to encourage young philanthropists to give to the arts, we developed a roadmap to bring together the cultural sector with next generation funders to drive awareness, form partnerships, and conduct research that would inform the future of cultural philanthropy. We pitched the Knight Foundation on these ideas and they supported our Phase 1 research program as well as our launch event during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019.

Our team works to advance the role of the arts as a mechanism for community engagement, political activism, and large-scale economic transformation. We have done this through partnerships with business leaders, foundations, and artists in our roles as editorial advisors, development professionals, cultural activists, and social entrepreneurs. 

AFF's mission is deeply personal to its founders. A lifelong advocate for the role of the arts in society, Sean has seen the importance of strong cultural economies in his work with companies, governments, foundations, and media around the world. He has worked to amplify the work of artists and activists in his capacity as program director for influential editorial platforms. He has also been a passionate advocate for social justice since his time working as a teaching assistant for Archbishop Desmund Tutu. 

Melissa has worked in the cultural sector for her entire career. Over the past 20 years she has witnessed shifts in audience engagement and next generation founding behaviors within cultural organizations and as a cultural philanthropy consultant. She believes that a strong and relevant cultural sector is vital to healthy, democratic, creative societies, and she is an advocate for robust systems of support for artists and artistic entities.   

Melissa has worked as a fundraising professional for premiere cultural institutions in the United States. She has developed and executed philanthropic strategies, engagement programming, and partnerships with a growing network of philanthropists and cultural leaders. She now operates at the nexus of philanthropy, finance, and the arts by advising institutions, partnering with the financial sector, and collaborating across industries to promote the arts. 

Sean is a leader in content and communications strategy, live and digital platform development, and community building. He has worked for the world’s most influential media and tech companies, including Bloomberg, the Economist, and Facebook. His clients include heads of state, global CEOs, and leading foundations. He has led the development of Arts Funders Forum since its inception. 

As the pandemic sent the global economy into a tailspin, the future of the AFF business model became dramatically uncertain. Plans for developing and hosting live events ended abruptly. 

Instead of pressing pause on AFF, we decided to see the pandemic and related economic downturn as an opportunity to engage with our audience in new ways. In fact, given the dire and vulnerable state of the cultural community, we believe our mission is more important than ever. 

It was during the first spike of the pandemic that we launched the virtual charrette series, “Remake The Model”, designed specifically to ideate solutions to the significant challenges faced by the arts and cultural sector. With a growing and engaged audience, and relationships with some of the most influential voices in cultural philanthropy, we were able to host virtual “charrettes” that inspired thousands of art funders, institution leaders, and cultural influencers to drive change. 

AFF’s launch event, which took place at the beginning of Miami Art Week week in December 2019, is an example of our leadership abilities. AFF hosted conversations with leaders in the arts and philanthropic sector, catalyzed conversations around the future of arts philanthropy for the entire Art Basel community, and ignited engagement with the arts among the rising generations of donors. Amidst other competitive events at Basel week, we attracted an in-person audience of prominent cultural leaders and received world-class press coverage from the Financial Times, Miami Herald, and The Art Newspaper. 

AFF is part of a larger organization (launched under the umbrella of M+D, a Florida-based LLC) and is therefore currently a for-profit entity with flexibility around partnerships, fundraising, and in-house capabilities to develop editorial content and community engagement. We are also working with the Miami Foundation to allow future investments in AFF to be tax deductible.  

There is no other organization in the U.S. that serves as a platform to develop community and drive advocacy around the next generation of art funders. Through innovative content initiatives and a bespoke community of cultural philanthropists, AFF is positioned to drive significant progress in the arts sector towards innovative partnerships, technology-driven solutions, metrics, and social justice. 

Our theory of change is based on three large-scale transformations that are underway in society and that AFF is uniquely positioned to advance for the cultural sector.

1. Millennials and the generations behind them are reimagining society through the lens of social justice. AFF will leverage this to create a cultural sector that advances art for social justice.
2. The largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history will create structural transformations across the philanthropic landscape and drive large-scale changes in every dimension of society. AFF will encourage the arts as a central focus area amongst young donors as they begin to establish their systems and platforms for giving. 
3. Technology is already democratizing many aspects of society, including access to tools and platforms to drive social innovation and social entrepreneurship. AFF will encourage partnerships and collaborations that lead to a tech-first approach to cultural philanthropy, thereby opening up the arts to a wider, more diverse audience. 

AFF research supports this logical framework in the wider philanthropic and economic context. We are poised to be the engine of change for the cultural sector. 

The AFF community currently includes some 3,500+ philanthropists, artists, and cultural leaders. We expect to increase this number by 20 percent each year given our network, reach, and scalable virtual programming. 

AFF serves the arts sector and global cultural society by advocating for increased private arts funding to expand current programs and outreach. 

AFF’s immediate goal is to cultivate more next generation funders and cultural influencers through research, live and virtual events, a digital content platform, thought leadership, and storytelling to encourage greater investments in the arts among a broad base of constituents. Within the next five years, we aspire to establish a social impact investment fund that steers capital from our community of funders towards artists and cultural institutions who embody the pillars of next-generation cultural philanthropy such as social justice, technology, clear metrics, and innovative partnerships. Given what we know about next-generation funders from our own research, we believe this will provide a vehicle to reorient the cultural sector towards social impact. 

Fundraising has been challenging as foundations, corporations, and social investors have rightly directed funding to vulnerable populations impacted by COVID-19. 

However, our track record of support from institutions such as the Knight Foundation, as well as significant interest from private donors and corporations, give us reassurance that AFF will succeed as the economy improves, especially since AFF serves as a platform to increase overall support for the arts. What's more, engagement with AFF content from influential funders is stronger than ever—despite an uncertain economy. 

We plan to overcome these barriers with continued optimization of the AFF platform to engage our community with relevant, inspiring content and cultivation among like-minded funders.

We partner with Sutton, a communications strategy and media relations firm with deep relationships in the cultural sector. They promote AFF’s work to media, institutional partners, and the broader cultural community.

The AFF business model monetizes content and community similar to a media platform — through sponsors, partners, and grants aligned around AFF’s mission and community. The Knight Foundation has supported AFF’s research and launch event, and select corporations and institutions are exploring sponsorship of specific aspects of the AFF platform (such as research, live and virtual events, and a forthcoming newsletter.)

Following our launch phase (Phase 1), we see our path to financial sustainability unfolding in two subsequent phases:

Phase 2: Raising capital from foundations, private investors, and corporations dedicated to our mission through a value exchange that includes alignment with AFF research, events, thought leadership, digital content, and influential audiences.

Phase 3: Launching the AFF social impact fund, which will reach financial sustainability through revenue from a percentage of investment capital that transfers funds from our investor community to artists and institutions in need.

Knight Foundation grant:

Phase 1: $145,000 for Research (2017-2018) 

Phase 2: $250,000 for the launch event during Miami Art Week (2019)

We are seeking support from corporate sponsors to sponsor certain areas of the AFF platform, such as our newsletter product, virtual charrette series, research, live and virtual events, and advocacy through narrative storytelling. All sponsorships are currently pending as conversations continue through 2020. 

In applying for the Elevate Prize, we seek to work with an institution on the forefront of solving global challenges through market-driven approaches. The Elevate Prize would be an ideal investor for Arts Funders Forum because of its interest in marshaling collective action to drive change at scale. 

By supporting the creators, visionaries, and activists who move society forward, we believe this can advance solutions to the most urgent issues of our times, including global health (especially mental health), education, social injustice, and environmental instability. 

AFF believes in the arts’ ability to strengthen underserved communities, inspire creativity, and innovate solutions to widespread challenges. We can effectively influence and cultivate the leaders of tomorrow, especially next-generation funders who are skeptical about the impact of the arts, and reshape the cultural sector as a catalyst of transformative change.

• Foundations: to support advocacy through storytelling
• Corporations: to support research and funder community cultivation 
• Cultural organizations: to advance thought leadership around social justice and other key themes
• Private donors: to enable the eventual AFF social impact fund 
• Media: to amplify and scale the narratives that will drive change