September 19, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Leading Roles: 50 Questions Every Arts Board Should Ask
By Michael M. Kaiser
Most of the problems arts boards encounter result from insufficient training or a misunderstanding of an organization’s mission, writes Mr. Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
To help deal with these problems, he offers 50 questions and answers on topics including budgeting, governance, fund raising, marketing, and diversity.
On fund raising, Mr. Kaiser goes against convention and argues that boards members themselves should not be expected to take full responsibility for raising money. Instead, he says, it is the duty of a charity’s staff to ensure that board members are enthusiastic enough to ask friends and associates to give. One way to spur such support is to get trustees to take part in a specific project that reflects his or her personal interests.
Publisher: Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 1 Court Street, Suite 250, Lebanon, N.H. 03766; http://www.upne.com; 130 pages; $24.95; ISBN: 978-1-58465-906-8.
