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Type: Blog

Driving Arts Engagement to the Core: Lessons from 10 Nonprofits

In a new evaluation report, The Engagement Revolution: A Study of Strategic Organizational Transformation in 10 California Arts Nonprofits, the Slover Linett team documents progress and lessons generated by the initial cohort of New California Arts Fund grantee-partners over their first three years.

Pay for Success Model Grows, Offers Lessons

Three years ago, we launched the California Pay for Success Initiative as an experiment. With this time-limited project, we sought creative approaches to funding high-quality social services for society’s most vulnerable individuals, and to discover ways to bring resources to proven programs.

Exploring Creative Expression in Our Grantmaking

All of our new grantmaking here at the Irvine Foundation aims to expand political and economic opportunity for Californians who are working but struggling with poverty. This includes exploring how artistic and creative expression can advance these goals.

Building Alternative Pathways to Work in California

For many of California’s working adults, the path to a good job — a job with room for growth, stability, and a family-sustaining wage — seems out of reach. Meanwhile, employers are having a hard time filling open positions that require specific skills.

Lessons on Arts Engagement in California

At the recent Zócalo Public Square Conference, three leaders from our cohort of grantee-partners in the New California Arts Fund (NCAF) were part of the robust dialogue and submitted the following thought pieces around arts engagement in California.

Turning Our New Goals Into Strategy

We believe that expanding economic and political opportunity — the goals we have set for our work — are all the more critical for California’s future success. That’s why we’ve been working hard to turn our evolving focus into grantmaking strategies.

Looking Back on a Year of Change: Our 2016 in Review

Our Year in Review is an annual look at the Foundation’s grantmaking, investments, and learning over the course of the year. We release it in the spring so that we can include financial statements.

Listening to Californians

Last fall, The James Irvine Foundation partnered with community organizations to hold 14 Community Listening Sessions in six regions across California. We spoke to more than 400 Californians (in 10 languages) to better understand their hopes, fears, challenges, and dreams.